


Spirit of the Sky

by DarkGreiga



Category: God Eater (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Military, Alternate Universe - War, F/M, FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 113,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25731862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkGreiga/pseuds/DarkGreiga
Summary: War/Military AU. Six people of different backgrounds are gathered as an elite unit to fight in the upcoming war, but little do they know about their connected pasts and their connection to the darker side of the army they're supposed to serve. Will their fighting spirit rid their homeland of wars or will they fall under the bloodstained-sky? MCxCiel, possible RomeoxNana later on.
Relationships: Ciel Alencon/Protagonist (God Eater 2)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 49





	1. Black Cadets

**Author's Note:**

> Hello guys! It's been a while since I uploaded any writings and I decided to put this one up before the crossover I planned much earlier. This started out as a free write when I hit a writer's block with the crossover, combined with broken laptop and taking up other mobile games. Hope you guys enjoy it!

The sky was clear, with the color blue partially covered by the white clouds. It was a sight the people of Susano’o Islands, a small country of thousands of islands, couldn’t see for the past ten years. The small country was rich in natural resources, which had attracted many bigger countries to attack and invade the defenseless country in order to loot its resources. The lack of military power was the primary reason for the past invasions, but the new government had taken the chance of the temporary ceasefire to strengthen the country’s defenses.

Harsh training and the lack of trust for the military’s quality had reduced the number of people, particularly the younger ones, who registered to be a part of the army. The government had other plans, as they had planned on selecting a handful of specific people to be a part of a special combat unit. The people possessing special combat abilities would be enough to cover for the lower quantity of the army, as it would mean that fewer lives would be lost in the war.

Two had been found and trained. It would be a matter of time before the next batch of new cadets to join and there would be a chance to recruit four more specialists into the team.

* * *

A big yawn had escaped a brown-haired young man’s mouth as he stood among various people wearing the same green military uniform he had. The sun was bright and hot, but what bothered him the most would be the commandant giving his speech on the podium. It was boring for him to stand in a crowd doing nothing but listen to the commandant’s and the army’s achievements. Listening to long speeches wasn’t the one he expected when he decided to join the army in the first place.

“Ugh… are we going to stand out here until midnight?” The young man looked around and noticed that he wasn’t the only one complaining.

Some of the new cadets were listening, but more of them were whispering to each other just to pass some time before they were introduced to their own units. Most of them joined with their friends, but the young man came on his own. It didn’t matter to him, as the wars had changed his life, just like with many other lives in the country.

Just as another yawn was coming, he felt someone had pushed him from behind that he almost crashed into the person standing in front of him. He turned around, feeling upset about the sudden push, until the anger quickly turned into confusion when he saw a dark-haired young woman about his age with her face covered with cake frosting and a completely destroyed cake on a plate she was carrying.

The woman noticed his staring and gasped, “Oh! I’m so sorry! I got so hungry after missing my second lunch and I was going to find some space to eat some cake and…”

“I told you so, Nana!” The woman turned around from the voice of another young man with short blond hair. “Why don’t you just stay where we were before and just eat the cake before it’s ruined?”

“But I don’t want the cake to fall over…” Nana gave him a frown as she licked the frosting off her face and the taste had brightened her face. “Hey, the cake is still good! Do you still want some, Romeo?”

Romeo gave her a stare as his vision went back and forth between Nana as she was cleaning her face and the leftovers of the cake on the plate, “I… think I’ll let you have the rest…”

“Mmm… okay…” Nana returned to the young man she had crashed into before and offered the plate to him. “To say sorry about before, do you want some cake… uh…”

“It’s Hiro,” he said with a smile as he extended his hand and over the plate, “I… guess it’s nice to meet you two?”

Seeing as the woman was still busy with the cake, Romeo had taken the hand shake in her stead, “Nice meeting you too, Bro. It’s great to finally know someone else here who doesn’t told us off immediately.”

Hiro let out a laugh, “Nah, don’t worry about it. It’s pretty awesome to have fun people around to pass the time until the speech is−”

A round of applause had interrupted him and when they looked back at the podium, the commandant was about to step down. A young woman with silver hair saluted at him as he was leaving before she took over the podium.

“Before all of you are assigned to your rooms, I shall announce the unit numbers under which you will be serving. Please pay close attention to this announcement as I shall only read it one time.”

Hiro was left frozen, staring at the woman as she announced the teams at the podium. It was Romeo who snapped him back to reality as he patted his shoulder, “Hey, you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah!” The brunette stole another quick glance at the woman before looking back at him, “I guess… we won’t be seeing each other too often if we happen to end up being in different units, right?”

“Don’t worry about it!” The blond proudly folded his arms. “I’ve worked for the office side for a while, so I know a lot about the secret passages for meetups!”

“Wait, do they have secret passages towards the kitchen area?” Nana grabbed him out of excitement. “Please tell me there’s one in there!”

“W-Well…” Romeo was trying to avoid her sparkling gaze as he tried to release himself from her firm hold. “I think… maybe they have one?”

Hiro had patted the blond’s shoulder this time and turned him around, but the brunette’s gaze was still fixed at the podium, “Any paths to the area where the higher ups would be hanging out?”

“Why do you want to−”

“Romeo Leoni, Unit Ninety-Nine. Please proceed to the entry gate number Twenty-Seven for a medical checkup.”

“Hey, your name is called!” Nana had slapped her blond friend on the arm, though with some extra strength that Romeo had a pained look, “Um… are you okay, Romeo?”

He held his pained arm before giving her and Hiro a confident thumbs-up, “Don’t worry, I-I’m good!” Romeo glanced at the entry gates where the cadets were going through and turned back to the two. “I’ll see you guys later, okay?”

Hiro and Nana bid their farewells as Romeo was leaving and continued waiting for their names to be called. Nana was the next one and was appointed to a different unit, leaving Hiro to get the news that he was transferred to yet a different unit as well. Perhaps their meeting was a bit short-lived, though they could probably still meet up during training sessions if they actually had time to hang out.

* * *

“Name?”

“Hiro. Hiro Kamui.”

The brunette watched as the well-dressed officer on the desk in front of him was scribbling down on the forms. The frantic writing came to a stop and the officer started flipping through the papers on the clipboard before taking out his communicator. The officer took another closer look at Hiro before turning on the communicator.

“This is Private Yuzuki from gate Thirty-Three. Candidate number 557 has the results as described in the briefing.”

There was a bit of static noise before the sound of a woman was heard from the other side of the communicator.

“ _Lead them to the unit they belong to. Gate Twenty-Seven and Ninety had reported in as well.”_

“Yes Ma’am,” The officer turned off the communicator and went under the desk, which Hiro snuck a peek at out of curiosity.

The brunette could hear the whispers coming from behind him, talking about seeing people being taken to a separate building instead. The tones of the whispers turned into a worrisome one until the officer cleared his throat loudly and handed Hiro a set of black uniform with a design similar to the one he was wearing.

“Change into this uniform and head for Camp Zero. Your unit is waiting there, Cadet Kamui.”

Hiro could feel unpleasant stares coming from behind him before he took the new uniform in a hurry. “Y-Yes, I’ll dash over there in an instant!”

The brunette pushed through the line of cadets and out of the gate, looking around the area for the building he was told to go. The only problem he had would be the fact that he had no idea what the building even looked like and it never crossed his mind to ask the officer from before.

“Camp Zero is the solitary building north of here.”

Hiro was startled by the unfamiliar voice and turned around to see a man leaning against a tree by the gate entrance. The shades from the leaves had covered most of his face that Hiro couldn’t see the speaker clearly enough, but the similar green uniform he was wearing gave away the fact that the man was a part of the army. It was for that reason Hiro gave him a quick and silent salute before running towards the lone building to the north.

* * *

The young brunette stood in front of the lone building, which looked a lot older compared to the other buildings he had been. The green paint was mostly gone and replaced by rust all over the place, either from the old age or the changing weather. For someone who was looking forward to spending a long time in a military facility, Hiro was clearly disappointed.

“If the rust is actually there just for some sort of an artistic decor… I think I’ll need to have a word with the architect who built this thing…”

The steps which were previously filled with excitement were gone as Hiro was dragging his feet before he had to put some extra effort to open the old door.

The smell of rust was strong inside the dimly-lit room filled with crates. His footsteps echoed in the empty room as he walked around to inspect the identical crates, until he noticed something moving among the crates. He approached one of the stacks cautiously, until one of them suddenly fell to the floor and startled him.

“Sorry! That was an accident!”

Blond hair popped out from the place where the crate had fallen from and Hiro recognized the familiar face. “Wait, Romeo?”

“Huh? Hey, it’s you again!” Romeo jumped down from the stack, greeting the new friend he met just a few hours previously. “I thought that we were all going to be in separate teams!”

“What? Nana’s here too?” Hiro looked around the room once more before Romeo pointed him at the right direction, where the young woman was munching away a couple of sandwiches. “Hey, come down and share some of those snacks with us, will ya?”

Nana responded to the call, surprised to see the new group meeting up again in a short span of time. “Hiro! You’re here too!”

She quickly finished the sandwiches in her hands before taking her bag with her as she jumped down through the crates. Loud thuds echoed in the room as she jumped through the crates towards the two before jumping down to the group of two.

“We’re all here, but I still don’t know why we’re specifically told to transfer to this unit,” Romeo was looking around the room with his arms behind his head. “And this place looks kinda old. I wonder if they’re going to give us some sort of special training because I think I heard the officers saying about us having ‘special’ results in the medical checkup−”

A loud creaking sound was heard in the room, startling the three as another door hidden by the lack of light slid open. The sound of clanking heels on the metal floor accompanied the young woman in the standard green uniform as she walked towards the group of three. The three golden medals hanging on the right and one on the left side of her chest shone brightly as they reflected the light coming from the lamp above her.

The woman gave the group a quick salute before slightly sweeping away the silver bangs covering her face as she held on to a clipboard.

“I believe there should be four of you, according to what I had been informed of,” The woman’s expression remained unchanged as the confused trio watched her looking over the clipboard in her hand. “I see. The last member would be able to join the rest of you on the next day due to the delayed transfer paperwork.”

Hiro was watching her carefully as he knew he couldn’t forget a face just easily, especially for people whom he found to be interesting. “You… you’re the one who announced the teams before, right?”

The woman turned her gaze at him, though without a hint of anger, “Would that be the proper way to talk to your superior officer, Cadet?”

“Wha−”

Just as Hiro was about to respond, Romeo quickly pulled him back and covered his mouth, “I-I’m sorry, Corporal! I think he still doesn’t know about the officers in charge around this area… or this building to be exact…”

“Ah, my apologies,” The woman drew her legs together as she stood up straight. “I am Corporal Ciel Alencon, previously of Medical Unit Three and one of the instructors for shooting practice. As of today, I shall also serve as the vice captain of Unit Zero, the special combat unit all of you are to serve as well.”

Nana was looking at her in awe, “Oh… look like you’re about my age but you’re already a corporal!”

“Nana!” Romeo slightly elbowed the dark-haired woman. “She’s our vice captain, and from the infamous Alencon family too! Give her some respect!”

“Ah, yes!” Instead of giving her superior officer a hand salute as Romeo did, Nana bowed down at her, “I’m sorry! I’ll try to be good and treat everyone with respect!”

Ciel didn’t respond and turned to Hiro as he looked at her, looking completely stunned, “Is everything clear, Cadet Kamui?”

“Yes, Ma’am!” The brunette gave her a salute as he responded with a much louder voice and a big smile on his face, “Everything is as clear and bright as the sky!”

The door creaked once more as it slid open a young man a few years older than them entered the room as well. “Responding in a tone louder than necessary also means disrespect towards your senior officers, Cadet.”

“Lieutenant Visconti, Sir!” Ciel gave the newcomer a salute as he stopped by her side.

“I’ll take over from here. The general needs you to be in his office immediately,” The young man took the clipboard as Ciel was leaving and turned towards the group of three. “I’d rather not hear any complaints either from the Vice Captain or other officers from different units about your bad behavior or anything relevant.”

Hiro noticed the sharp glance he got and let out a sigh, “I’m sorry about that, _Sir_ …”

The man ignored his half-hearted apology and looked back at the rest of them, “Along with Corporal Alencon, I, First Lieutenant Julius Visconti, shall be in charge of this special unit as your captain,” He looked at the clipboard in his hand in a few seconds pause. “I believe that’s everything I need to add for the time being. During your time training as cadets, this building shall become your dorm and all of you are required to wake up every morning at six to begin training. Dismissed.”

Without any more words, Julius left once more through the door where he came from and closed it with another loud creaking sound.

“Wow, a really friendly and sociable captain…”

* * *

It was nighttime on the first day in the military facility.

The old building the three of them occupied had enough supplies for them to sleep, even if the old black cloth they tore apart for blankets was old and dusty. The quiet environment was pleasant enough for Nana to fall asleep almost immediately, leaving Romeo and Hiro still awake.

Nana had occupied the dark corner farthest from the door, curling in her blanket. Hiro had taken the spot near the crates across her, but under one of the lamps hanging on the ceiling. Romeo was lying next to him, but the young blond couldn’t stop tossing and turning as he was trying to get a good position to sleep in.

“Man, the floor is hard and cold!” Romeo kicked his blanket off him as he sat up, tired from rolling around to try to sleep. “Can’t they afford like a cheap bunk bed or something for us to sleep on?”

“Yeah…” Hiro gave him a response, but the brunette didn’t pay too much attention to his friend as his eyes were glued to the sketchbook in front of him. “That’s why I’m trying to get myself tired enough so I can ignore the metal floor when I sleep.”

The blond lied down once more with a loud sigh before turning his head to look at Hiro, “At least you have something to do here. I can’t draw and I don’t have anything I can use to tire myself to sleep.”

“We can talk about something if you want, but give me a few more seconds to finish this up,” The sound of pencil strokes were heard as the brunette drew his head closer towards the sketchbook before he slammed it onto his lap. “And done!”

Romeo went over to the brunette’s side out of curiosity, seeing as Hiro was hard to talk to the moment he had the sketchbook and the pencil in his hands. Hiro responded to the curiosity by showing Romeo his finished sketch and a proud thumbs up.

“Just a little something I drew to impress our pretty vice captain when I get the chance to show her,” Hiro smiled widely as he looked back and forth between his sketch and Romeo’s surprised look. “What do you think? Is it like the real person herself?”

“You… you’ve got the talent, man!” The blond took the sketchbook to admire Hiro’s work before flipping through the other pages. “They look so awesome! All of them!”

The brunette let out an embarrassed laugh, feeling overwhelmed by the praises as Romeo looked over his other drawings. “Well… I guess I’m kinda used to it because I had to start earning for myself as a kid. It doesn’t always earn me much, but I’m enjoying the life as a freelance artist.”

“A freelance artist, huh…” Romeo was nodding as he spoke and returned the sketchbook, “If it’s not earning you much, I’m guessing that you’re joining the military for some extra cash?”

“Nah, not really,” the brunette shrugged as he smiled. “I’ve always wanted some action in my life and the army happens to be recruiting, so I’ll just go for it and here I am.”

The blond leaned against the crate behind him. “Some action, huh? I guess I kinda expected it when I was still working in the intelligence division before, but I’m more into hanging out with friends part, just like how I see it when I eat at the cafeteria with the soldiers.”

“There’s still the part about losing people in battle and other lives lost, you know,” Hiro’s smile faded as he slid down under his own blanket. “Like, the wars years ago caused so many lives to be lost…” The brunette could feel that Romeo was looking at him and he rolled to the side to hide his face. “Lives like my parents’…”

There was a short pause as the blond looked at his friend in pity. “Sorry to bring that up, buddy. But you’re not the only one like that in this country, you know.”

“I know…” The brunette rolled to his back once more with a sigh. “I’m not the only orphan from the war. I know that a few people my age lost their parents from the past wars.”

Romeo gave him a nod. “Some people in the same division as I used to be lost their relatives in battle. I lost mine from the bombing a couple of years ago and Nana…” The blond looked at his sleeping friend. “… well, her mom died in a fire when her family’s restaurant burned down from a gas leak. She stayed with my family until the bombing killed my own… and my relatives decided to send us both to an orphanage instead of taking us in.”

“Looks like you and Nana had some tough times too, huh…”

“Yeah, but she’s pretty strong herself that she’s always cheerful and smiling just to brighten pretty much every gloomy situation,” A smile made its way to his face as he slid down into his blanket. “I guess I can say that I can survive this long without feeling desperate because of Nana and the people around me.”

“I think I’ll join in the fun of your contagious cheerfulness too, while we’re in the same unit,” Hiro raised a fist towards Romeo. “You cool with that?”

The blond gave him a surprised look for a moment before he responded with a smile and a fist bump. “I’m totally cool with that!”

“Great! And now I’ll need you to be my wingman and gather some intel on our vice captain!”

Romeo let out a laugh, “Are you into her that you’re already drawing her a sketch after knowing her for one day?”

“I like that icy cold glare of hers.”

“Too bad buddy, she’s already taken.”

The proud smile on Hiro’s face disappeared instantly, “T-Taken? Am I just too late or is she just that popular?”

“Her family is, that’s what I’ve heard of,” The blond slid his hands under his head as he was thinking. “The Alencon family was a famous military family with Corporal’s parents being a world-known sniper and a tactician. She was the only Alencon left alive after the enemy bombed their mansion and shot down fleeing survivors. Not sure if that incident actually nullified her engagement−”

“Wait,” Hiro grabbed Romeo’s collar suddenly, surprising the blond. “She’s already engaged?! To whom?!”

“Uh…” The blond was trying to avoid the brunette’s gaze as he responded. “T-To the Visconti family, or to our captain to be exact…”

The grip on the blond’s collar loosened and Romeo slid back to the floor with a painful thud, which Hiro had ignored completely.

His chance was so close yet so far, but it didn’t look like he had no chance at all. Surely he was still just a rankless cadet for now, but he still had plenty of chances in the future to prove his worth.

“Lieutenant or not, I will become better than him! Definitely!”

* * *

Julius was standing in front of a door with the golden nameplate ‘General Gregory de Gremslow’ on it. He straightened his uniform shirt and brushed the dust off his clothes before bringing his hand up to knock on the solid wooden door.

“This is Lieutenant Visconti, Sir.”

There was a pause for a moment before a voice came from the other side of the door.

“Come in.”

The blond entered the office, revealing the older man sitting behind the desk on the other side of the room. He put the pen he was using to sign some documents on his desk and picked up an already-lit cigarette from the ashtray on his left. He leaned back on his seat with an uninterested look on his face as Julius approached him and gave him a salute.

“Please excuse the intrusion at this hour, General Grem,” The blond started before dropping his hand back to the side. “Regarding Unit Zero, I would like to propose a request as their captain.”

The general exhaled the smoke from his cigarette as the expression on his face remained unchanged. “What is it? If it’s about the number of members, they’re already the same amount as the late Doctor Rachel had predicted and I won’t add any other members.”

“There are no issues with the number of team members, Sir,” Julius responded. “I would like to propose a proper dorm area for them to sleep in. Letting our finest cadets to sleep in the storage room would cause not only a decrease in their morale, but also a possibility in health issues in the long term.”

Grem suddenly burst out laughing, which had confused the unit captain as he stood in front of the general. “They’re special cadets! The chances of them contracting any sort of diseases is little to none! No, I shall not spend unnecessary budget for extra beds! We need all the money we can to invest on weapons and ammunition for the upcoming battle in a few months!”

There was a short pause before Julius gave him a light nod. “Understood, Sir. I apologize for my inconsiderate proposal. I shall excuse myself.”

The blond took a few seconds of silence as he watched his superior turning his chair away from him and towards the portraits of the previous generals. A puff of smoke rose up from his seat and over a portrait of the only blond general. He looked at the former general’s eyes, which had the same eye color as his, before he finally left the office.

He turned to his right, aware of the presence of another person as he got out. “Did you pass my message to him?”

“Yes,” The other person was a younger girl with short blonde hair and gave him a salute. “Your request might delay his arrival to your unit, Sir, but he had no objections to the job.”

“Thank you,” Julius walked past the blonde girl. “I’ll take care of his delayed transfer documents as I’ll be the one responsible for the delay itself. Get some rest, Private Bourgogne.”

“Yes Sir!”


	2. First Day of Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back again! Project deadlines took away most of my time and energy to write and edit this chapter but I can finally have probably a week of peace to actually progress with my writing. Enjoy!

The bed felt harder than he remembered it being. His pillow felt like brick and it felt painfully annoying just to roll on his bed. As if it wasn’t bad enough, his blanket smelled like a mix of dust and iron even if it was warm enough for him. It felt bright above his head, which made him wonder if he forgot to turn the light on the previous night and cost him extra for the electricity bills.

His body felt heavy and he could use some more sleep. Being a freelancer, nobody would mind if he started the day a bit later−

“Get up, Cadet!”

A loud voice rang in the old room, slightly snapping Hiro back to reality. He slowly recalled where he had been sleeping and the fact how he and Romeo had stayed up late to talk. It was the very reason why he was still too sleepy to bother getting up, until the warmth of the blanket was abruptly pulled away from him.

“Get up and get dressed, Cadet Kamui!” The brunette could see a blur of blond and green color, but his eyes were too heavy to see clearly.

Hiro closed his eyes once again and curled on the floor. “Just five more minutes…”

The brunette could hear a loud sigh followed by the sound of footsteps going farther away from him. He was left at peace to go back to sleep once more, but the presence from before had left him for a reason as the footsteps came towards him in a matter of minutes. Cold sensation suddenly came as a bucket of water being poured on him had awakened him completely.

“Get dressed and go to the training field outside,” A sharp glare was the only thing Hiro was left with as he saw his team captain walking away with an empty bucket. “You’re already an hour late.”

The brunette watched as the blond went outside before he slipped back onto the floor with a long sigh.

“I _really_ don’t like this guy…”

* * *

Hiro let out a yawn as he combed his wet hair aside, walking towards the dusty open field where the other two cadets were waiting. Judging from the looks they were giving him, Romeo looked like he had been forced to run laps the moment he woke up while Nana most likely didn’t have her chance to have much to eat for her breakfast. Or perhaps, none of them got the chance to have breakfast from the early hour training.

“Hey…” The blond let out a yawn as he waved tiredly at Hiro. “Not a great wake up call for you too, huh?”

“Nope, I can’t say that having a bucket of water actually counts as an effort to wake up someone,” The brunette stretched his arms with another yawn. “Man, I’m both tired and starving…”

“I want my breakfast…”

Romeo and Nana had fallen to their knees in a daze due to hunger and sleepiness, while the brunette was walking around unsteadily.

He stopped and looked up at the sky lazily, wondering to himself why he decided to join the military in the first place. Surely he wanted some action in his life and some new ideas for him to draw and share with the world, but he never expected that he would have a rough start on the first day. Did the soldiers in that military camp always had to wake up really early for training every single day?

A single clap from the distance had caught the three’s attention, seeing that Julius was present with something on his shoulder. The two hurriedly got back to their feet with Hiro being the last one to line up.

“Run around the fields for some warm up!” The team captain yelled out from the distance. “Run for about thirty laps while I prepare the equipment for the first training session!”

Their gazes went over to the field, which had some traces of white lines forming an old running track. The other side of the circle was barely visible either from the lack of clearer lines, but it was at least twice bigger than the old building they spent their first night in.

It was going to be a long and tiring warm up.

* * *

The sky was blue and the sun was bright, shining almost exactly above their heads.

The three were panting as they lied down on the sand-covered field after the strenuous warm up right out of the bed. Droplets of sweat were drenching the sand around them with their faces reddening from the heat of the sun. The sleepiness from before was gone and replaced by the fatigue from the exercise, making them unaware that Julius had been standing on the sidelines with a few wooden stick-like object on the ground beside him.

“Stand up, cadets! I have a few things to say before we start with our first training session,” Julius his hands behind his back and stood in a resting position as the three struggled to get up and face him in a line. “The other units would be training for a specific skill, such as close range or long range combat, aerial battles, and many more. This unit is an exception as you will be trained in all of those fields at once, in the span of three months.”

“Three months?!” Romeo asked in disbelief. “But that’s insane!”

“You all can, and you all must,” Julius calmly replied as he took the wooden sticks and casually threw them towards the younger cadets. “You have a small window of time to find your best ability to aid in the upcoming war, but you have to excel in other skills in order to support other units.”

Hiro looked back and forth between the rather heavy stick in his hands and his superior officer. The stick was slightly curved with one end slightly thicker than the other. When he took a closer look, the shape of the stick looked more like a sword without the guard component. The place where the guard should have been was replaced by a carved line around the wooden stick.

“Is this… a wooden sword?” The brunette lifted it up so that the hilt was about his eye level before he swung it around. “Are we going to train using these for the first day?”

“Correct. This will be your close combat training using training swords,” The blond took the last wooden sword and held it firmly with both of his hands as the pointed edge faced directly at the three. “The key to winning in close combat is to know when to block and when to strike. Watch the opponent’s movement and find the perfect opening to land a hit.”

The blond captain continued with his explanation, but the brunette didn’t bother listening anymore. He had watched people fight in movies before as he walked around the streets for an inspiration to draw. He didn’t feel the need for theoretical lectures for something they would be doing and they would actually learn something by doing it.

Was there any need for the non-practical basics? He was certain that it was just a waste of time.

As the brunette’s eyes wandered off around the field, he could see that the team was training away from other units. Sounds of people yelling in the distance could be heard along with shooting sounds, but the only people he could see were just him, Romeo, Nana, and the captain. The rest was just a few dead trees around the field, a small old building a bit farther behind the field, and the old building his team spent the night in farther in front of the group.

It was then their vice captain showed up from the side of the field with a few documents in her arms. Hiro watched her as she turned towards the field, unaware of how many times his name was mentioned until Romeo put a hand on his shoulder.

“You okay, buddy?”

Hiro jerked up slightly from the sudden touch, which had also surprised the blond cadet. “H-Huh? Yeah, I’m… good…”

“If you’re fine, Cadet, then let me repeat my question to you,” The brunette turned to Julius as the blond captain gave him a look in the eye. “Who would you pick as your first sparring partner? I will give you and your partner pointers as the two of you fight in sword-based combat when necessary.”

The brunette looked around in confusion before he realized Julius was talking to him. “W-Wait, me?”

“Yes, Cadet,” The blond looked slightly irritated from his behavior and folded his arms. “There are only three of you and I’ve chosen you to have an extra sparring match for today.”

Hiro looked back at his two companions, who both gave him friendly hand waves while secretly hoping to sit back from the spar a bit longer. The silver-haired vice captain in the scene had caught the brunette’s attention as she was handing Julius a few papers he needed to sign before he pointed his sword at the blond captain.

Julius had noticed the gesture and looked up from the document he was holding. “This is not a game, Cadet. Even if it’s made of wood, it’s still capable of injuring people.”

“I know, I’ve just picked my first sparring partner,” He let out a confident smile as the tip of his wooden sword was pointed directly at the captain’s face. “Spar with me, Captain Visconti.”

“Y-You’re going to go up against him?!” Nana and Romeo looked equally surprised with their new friend’s proposal. “But he’s like… _the_ Captain Visconti! The super strong front line fighter! A lieutenant rank officer!”

The brunette responded with a casual shrug, “So? Wouldn’t it better to train with someone more experienced so I can learn faster?”

Julius watched him for a moment before he let out a chuckle and raised his own wooden sword to cross it with Hiro’s. Ciel was watching the whole scene from his side, not completely understanding what the captain had in his head.

“Captain?”

“I apologize, Vice Captain,” he said as he handed back the document to her without his eyes moving away from the brunette’s. “I’ll look over the documents later once I’m done training him,” Julius switched the sword into his right hand and held the blunt end firmly with his left hand. “Cockiness is a big mistake in battle, Cadet. The war zone has no place for bluffing soldiers challenging people they can’t win against.”

“I’m definitely winning this someway or the other, Sir,” His grip on the wooden sword tightened as the two other cadets snuck away from behind him and a few feet away from the two. “It’s a fact, not a bluff.”

“Let’s see if it’ll hold water later on, Cadet.”

The two men let out their fighting yells, giving the sign for the vice captain to move away as well before the two began their sparring match. The two wooden swords clashed with loud whacking sounds, with Hiro’s wild and disorganized blows being easily blocked and parried. A single look of the spar and the rest of them could tell how one-sided the match was and who was on the losing end.

* * *

It was in the middle of the day and the army’s mess hall was packed with people trying to get something to eat. The new members of Unit Zero wasn’t an exception to the crowd, but the gloomy energy surrounding them had attracted some attention from the other soldiers sitting near their table.

The three of them let out a sigh in unison before they slumped on the table and in front of their food tray. Nana didn’t have any bruises anywhere on her, while Romeo had to wince in pain as he tried hiding his swollen head. The worst of the three would be Hiro, as his face and hands were covered in bruises and he could tell that there was more under his clothes.

“I didn’t think that he would be _that_ tough…” The brunette let out a pained sigh as he pushed himself and sat up straight. “I need time to train… if we actually have some free time to use…”

Romeo was trying to gently rub his swollen head, but a single touch was enough to make him wince in pain. “I… I’ll probably pass on swords for a while…”

“I’m sorry about that, Romeo!” Nana, who was sitting across the two men, clasped her hands together as she lowered her head in apology. “Captain told me to use my full strength, so…” She looked back up at the blonde with a regretful look. “Sorry!”

“A solid one-hit KO from Nana, huh?” Hiro spoke in a mocking tone with a smirk on his face. “I guess I’m feeling kinda better even after losing to our captain!”

“Hey!”

Romeo playfully punched the brunette, only to accidentally hit him on his injuries. The pained whines slowly turned into laughter as they continued their meals, but a glimpse of silver color had once again caught Hiro’s attention. As Romeo’s and Nana’s conversation faded in the background, the brunette’s blue eyes followed the team’s vice captain as she walked towards an empty table with her food tray.

Ciel was on her own, sitting on the table in the corner of the mess hall. On the other side of the hall, Julius was eating silently despite the other soldiers sharing the same table talking to each other. It almost felt like both of their presences were completely ignored, or it was just them secluding themselves from the other units for some unknown reason.

One other thing he found to be strange would be the fact that the vice captain came from the door leading outside, not from the long tables where the soldiers got their lunch. Curiosity had won him over and he rose from his seat, ignoring his teammates’ calls as he walked away and towards the table Ciel had occupied.

“Eating alone, Vice Captain?”

Hiro gave her a smile as he slid his food tray on the table, but Ciel only gave him an emotionless stare. The brunette sat down across her as if he owned the place and saw the food tray in front of her. He had a brow raised to see half a slice of bread, a small bowl of potato carrot soup, and a glass of plain water. It was far less than what he had in his tray, which was filled with two roasted fish, a big bowl of hot noodles, a big bowl of curry, and a big glass of orange juice.

“Are you… going to eat just that?” the brunette asked curiously. “I mean, it’s only my first day of training and I feel like I can eat a whole cow from hunger!”

The vice captain looked at him silently before she took the bread. “I’ve had some rations after a meeting this morning. This menu is enough for lunch.”

The brunette stared at her for a moment as he expected to hear more from her, only to end up with a silent treatment from her. “O… kay…”

Hiro watched silently as Ciel quickly finished her small portion of lunch before leaving the table without another word. His eyes followed her as she was putting away her tray for cleaning, noticing that she didn’t look like she was lacking any strength despite her small eating portion compared to his. Were rations really that effective that they could almost replace an entire lunch?

The remaining two members of the team were still sitting on their table as they were still busy with their lunch. Romeo had already finished his, but Nana’s was still filled with strange dishes which weren’t originally served in the first place.

“Should we get over to his place?” Nana suggested before she gulped down an entire bowl of soup as her eyes were still directed towards the brunette as he was left eating on his own.

The blond gave her a nod in response before standing up, carrying his tray with him. “I’ll head over to his table once I take care of this and grab some water.”

The dark-haired cadet was about to take a bite of a sandwich she put together herself with the available dishes, but the sight of another person in Romeo’s way had caught her attention that she had dropped it back on the plate, “Romeo, there’s a−”

A crash was unavoidable between Romeo and a passing cadet, causing the tray the person was carrying to flip and the plates on it fell down with a loud crash. The sound had attracted the attention of the other cadets around the area as Romeo and the coffee-drenched cadet became the center of attention.

“Watch where you’re going, will ya?!” The person glared at the blonde as he looked at the coffee stain on his white undershirt and green uniform coat. “Damn it, now I need to change again before lunchtime is over!”

Romeo responded with another glare despite the person he ran into had a taller build than his and the bad scar on the person’s left cheek wasn’t enough to scare him. “I was just trying to put away the dirty dishes! You were just in my way!”

“What did you say?!” The person grabbed the blond’s collar in anger.

Nana had quickly and forcefully pulled the two apart before a fist fight started. “S-Stop it! Let’s just calm down and eat some of my homemade sandwich, okay?”

The slightly hostile energy between the two slowly died down as they both looked at the dark-haired cadet in confusion after hearing her suggestion. “An oden sandwich? Is there something special about−”

“Here!” Nana had shoved a small slice of messy sandwich into Romeo’s mouth before he could finish before she handed another slice to the other person. “You can have one too and let bygones be bygones!”

The man looked at her in amusement before his gaze went over to the messy sandwich in her hand. He glanced at Romeo for a moment due to his munching sound as he struggled to chew the various ingredients within the sandwich, but he didn’t look like he hated what he had been forced to eat. He took the sandwich with a chuckle as he fixed his hat slightly, allowing strands of his dark brown hair to fall down from the hat. “Fine. Thanks.”

The area was still quiet as the people watched the man leaving without any hint of trying to continue the fight before it sounded lively once more.

The blond had already swallowed the sandwich and gave his friend a smile with a thumbs up. “That was really good! You have to make those again for Hiro too!”

“What are you making for me?”

The two turned to the familiar voice as Hiro came over to them, with a face lacking enthusiasm he had a few hours earlier. Before any of them could respond, the bell in the mess hall rang and all of the sudden, the soldiers having their meals rose from their seats almost in unison and hurriedly put their dirty plates away and left the hall.

“Lunchtime is over, huh…” Nana let out a sigh in disappointment, knowing that she wasn’t allowed to eat outside eating hours. “So… what’s on our schedule today before dinner?”

“Just a sec,” Romeo dug through his pockets before taking out a small notebook and read it. “We have… an afternoon class along with the recruits from other units after lunch and then a physical training right before dinner…”

“An afternoon class?” the brunette asked with an uninterested look as he ignored the passing cadets running into him. “We still have classes?”

The blond responded with a sad nod. “And there’s more physical training again after that…”

“And dinner!”

The dark-haired cadet’s cheerful response wasn’t enough to blow away the dark clouds around the two as they followed Nana out of the hall while dragging their feet.

* * *

“My head is spinning!”

“My whole body hurts!”

Hiro and Romeo had barged into the door of their unit’s building and collapsed on the floor due to their most hated activities. The three had some free time before dinner and the two had wanted some peaceful rest after the class and physical training. The two ignored Nana as she stepped deeper into the building and were both completely unaware of the major change in their so-called bedroom.

“Hey! Who replaced the crates with some nice bunk beds and… is that a wall…?” The female cadet’s voice had caught their attention as the two looked up from their position on the floor.

Seeing that the crates and the cold metal floor wouldn’t be their permanent beds anymore, Hiro and Romeo quickly recovered and ran over to the beds. “Awesome! I’ve always wanted to sleep in bunk beds!”

“This is going to be great!” Romeo was standing in front of the metal ladder leading to the upper bunk. “I’m taking the upper bunk!”

“Then I’ll take the lower one, right under yours!”

The two young men headed for their assigned bunk bed with Hiro jumping into the bed, only to land with a loud creaking sound. Romeo tried climbing the ladder, only with some slight vibrations as he moved and ended with another creaking sound as he landed on the top.

“It… sounds like it’s lacking oil…?” Nana was watching the surprised duo on their respective beds, only to be greeted by another creaking sound coming from behind them.

Two people emerged from the old sliding door, with one of them being their captain as he carried a bag with him. The other one was a taller man with shoulder-length dark brown hair under a green military hat. His blue eyes were clearly visible along with the scar on his left cheek as he looked up and towards the three.

“This man will be a part of your team as of today and will join the team’s training starting tomorrow,” Julius spoke up calmly before noticing the shocked looks on Romeo’s and Nana’s faces. “Cadet Leoni, Cadet Kozuki. Is something the matter?”

“It’s you!”

The two pointed at the man, who had noticed the familiar faces as well. “It’s you two again, huh?”

The captain cleared his throat loudly, before they could say anything else. “I can see that some of you have already met, though I suppose a formal introduction is still in order, Private.”

“Fine…” the man responded with an unenthusiastic sigh. “Private Gilbert McLane, formerly from the Weapon Engineering Division. Five years of combat experience before transferring here.”

The brunette sat on the bed with a smile on his face as he gave him a salute. “Hiro Kamui, Sir! Still a cadet, but will be improving soon!”

“You’d better not tell a lie, Cadet,” Julius’ gaze was directed at Hiro as the brunette was now sitting on the edge of the bed. “You’re not allowed to sleep in classes unless you want to have a few hundred more of push-ups as punishment.”

“A-Absolutely not!”

The blond captain only responded with a sigh as he looked down on the bag he was carrying. “Due to the lack of discipline in this unit, Vice Captain and I are ordered to move in here as well to keep a closer eye as well as monitor your improvements more closely.”

“So Ciel… I-I mean Vice Captain is going to stay here with us too?” Nana clearly sounded excited to know that she would have another woman her age to be a roommate, even if she was a few ranks higher than her.

“Correct,” the captain nodded as he responded before walking over towards the wall covering half of the room’s depth. “The wall will be worked on as we have dinner and it’s intended to have two rooms, one separate room for each gender.”

Gilbert folded his arms. “The wall isn’t part of the deal, Captain. I’ll only handle the beds like you asked yesterday.”

“Yes, I’ll let the other members of your former team to take care of the rest,” Julius walked over to the bunk beds, putting it on the unoccupied lower bunk bed next to the one Hiro and Romeo shared. “With this setup, I hope that this unit will develop its teamwork much better.”

“Teamwork, huh…” Romeo eyed Gilbert as the man climbed to the bunk above Julius’. “Only if everyone is cooperative, I’m sure it’s gonna go smoothly.”

The private-ranked soldier only gave the blond a chuckle in response as he made himself comfortable on the bunk bed.

Julius looked at the team he was going to lead as they were doing their own thing. Gilbert was lying on the upper bunk bed with Romeo doing the same with his back turned away from him. Nana had left for the women’s side as she took her belongings with her. Hiro had ignored the whole situation with his sketchbook and pencil in his hands.

With the way things were starting out, the captain was sure that his assignment in the special team wouldn’t be an easy task.


	3. Off Target

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back again for another chapter! It's a bit longer than the previous ones and I'll drop some hints on Unit Zero's background story here.

The sky was clear in the late afternoon, with birds flying in the sky. The sun wasn’t as hot as usual despite the lack of rain and such weather was perfect for some outdoor training for the new recruits. The sounds of people yelling from various training facilities could be heard, either from issuing orders or testing the soldiers’ fighting spirit.

Unit Zero was no exception as they were gathered at the shooting range, which was located away from the other facilities. Their unit was the only one present as the other units weren’t scheduled to use the facility on that same day. Five training rifles had already been prepared in the range, along with the protective gear required and the five targets at about fifty meters away from the firing lanes.

The four new members of Unit Zero had lined up in rest position as their vice captain took one of the prepared rifles while continuing her explanation.

“The rifles you will be using for training will be the Springfield Model 1922 made for training purposes,” Ciel started loading the rifle with some ammunition before turning towards the targets to take aim. “Today’s target would be the fifty meter ones, using the .22 Long Rifle already loaded in your training rifles. Please remember my explanation about the correct posture to hold the rifle as you put on your protective gear.”

The three cadets put on their protective gears, which consisted of a pair of protective glasses, earmuffs, gloves, and elbow protectors. Gilbert looked uninterested as he picked up his own set of gear as his fingers messed around the bolt handle. The vice captain watched his actions suspiciously before he turned around towards the targets and aimed without any protective gear on.

A barely audible shot was released, landing on the outer circle of the target, before the older cadet lowered his rifle. “Not a bad thing for a training rifle, except it’s an ancient model that’s no longer used by other units.”

“It’s the only model issued for this team’s training,” Ciel stated flatly as she looked over to the target he had shot. “Your ignorance for the safety protocols needs to be worked on, but that wasn’t a bad aim.”

Gilbert let out a chuckle. “I’ve been through this kind of stuff before. Why don’t you try and show us what a good aim is, Vice Captain.”

The vice captain didn’t respond to his arrogant attitude and took her rifle as she aimed at the targets. Hiro, Romeo, and Nana were watching as they finished preparing their gears as Gilbert smiled confidently. The older cadet was confident enough with his aim as it still counted as hitting the target, but the smile turned into a surprise when Ciel fired her first shot.

The shot was on target, creating a small hole in the exact center of the target circles. A second shot soon came after, but no new holes were formed as the bullet went through the previous hole and hit the sandbag barrier behind the target. The sand poured out of the hole and was blown away by the wind as the four cadets stared in disbelief.

“T-That was… totally on target, right…?” Nana asked as she was still in awe from the shots.

“And that second bullet went through the hole…” Romeo looked at his vice captain in disbelief as she didn’t look like she had any change of emotions on her face. “Her family really does have the genes of a first-class sniper…”

She put her weapon on her side as she stepped away from the firing range. “You may begin your training.”

There was another pause of disbelief before the four of them lined up in the firing range with their rifles ready. The sounds of the shots were barely audible and with their ears plugged, the most obvious sign of them shooting would be the holes on the target board and the sandbag barrier behind them. Despite being briefed about their shooting stances and how the reloading worked, each of them showed different results.

Gilbert didn’t seem like he had trouble with the shooting, even if his aim wasn’t always on target. His earmuffs were hanging on his neck as the protective glasses were stuck on his head. The gloves and elbow protectors were lying on the ground by his feet as the older cadet completely ignored his superior’s comments about the protective gears.

Nana was standing on the lane next to him, with her rifle’s magazine constantly falling from her poor handling as she tried reloading the bullets. She would sometimes try to shoot without reloading the bullets or mess around with the bolt handle to the point that the loaded bullets would be falling out that Ciel had to help her reload them again.

Romeo was next and the weight of the weapon had hindered him from aiming correctly, though his shots were still hitting the target. He had done exactly as he was told, even if he didn’t show noticeable skills in handling the long range weapon. The blond was trying, as opposed to the brunette standing next to him.

His shots were quick, but it wasn’t hard to tell that he wasn’t aiming properly when he fired. The bullets Hiro had shot hit anywhere but the target in front of him, causing more holes on the sandbag barrier and other unintended targets.

Seeing as his shots could put the others in danger, the vice captain quickly grabbed Hiro’s rifle and took it away from him. “I believe this is enough for this session. Get yourselves ready in two hours with some spare clothes and wait at the base’s entrance. The next training will take place outside the base.”

“But what about−”

“Dismissed, Cadet,” Ciel’s sharp gaze had stopped Hiro from questioning her further as she went over to the office side of the range, writing her report.

The vice captain had dismissed the training without another word, popping up the questions in the four’s minds as they stared at her through the glass from outside. Gilbert was the first one to finish up, putting his unused gear on the bench outside the office. He was about to walk away from the range, but looked back to see the confused faces of his teammates.

“Come on, let’s just leave this place already,” the dark brunette let out an irritated sigh as the three weren’t moving from their spot. “Do you guys want to be in trouble again?”

The blond wasn’t liking his attitude for being in a higher rank than them and threw his gear onto the bench. “Alright, alright! We’re moving already, so stop being so bossy already!”

“I’m just telling you the way the military works. They don’t tolerate people for being late or endangering anyone for no apparent reason,” Gilbert shoved his hand into his pocket, not noticing that something fell out as he fixed his hat and turned away. “I don’t like it here either, but I’ll hang out here a little longer and see how things will turn out.”

Romeo was about to run after him out of anger, until he noticed the object on the ground as Gilbert walked away. He picked it up and saw that it was an old photo of four people, with the dark brunette being one of the people in the picture. A slightly older man was standing next to Gilbert with a smile as they had their arms around each other’s shoulder. The dark brunette’s free hand was ruffling a boy’s hair with the woman beside him laughing.

The blond was standing still on his place when Hiro and Nana came over to him. “What’s that?”

Romeo showed the old photo to Hiro and as the brunette was about take a closer look, Gilbert had already snatched the photo off the blond’s hand. “Don’t touch it!”

“Hey!” It was Nana’s turn to be upset as the dark brunette raised his voice. “Romeo picked that up for you! And can’t you two please get along already? We’re already a team for a week and we will be for the next three months too!”

The older cadet only responded with a glare as he shoved the photo back into his pocket. “I’d try getting along with that guy,” he pointed at Romeo, “if he didn’t touch other people’s stuff.”

“I wouldn’t touch it if you didn’t drop it in the first place!”

“You could’ve just told me that I dropped it!”

Hiro quickly got between the two before any more fighting could occur, slightly pushing them apart. “Chill out, guys! We only have less than two hours until the next training and I’d really like it if I can spend that time on sketching more stuff rather than keeping you guys from fighting!”

Gilbert looked at the younger brunette for a moment before he sighed in defeat. “Fine. Let’s just take care of our stuff for the training quickly so I can get some shut eye before the time comes.”

The older cadet had calmed down and walked away, but the blond was still feeling upset from the incident. “Oh, come on! I was just trying to be nicer to him and he just−”

“Here!” The dark-haired cadet had shoved something into his mouth with a big smile on her face. “Have some of my latest creation, the Meditation Cake, and calm down, okay?”

Romeo had a mouthful to chew, earning a laugh from the brunette, before his anger changed into a smile. “That was so good! Can I have another one?”

The three laughed as they headed for their dorm, unaware that the vice captain was watching by the office’s entrance. She held the green folder in her arms firmly as she watched them walking away, before she looked back at the report paper sitting on top of the folder. The result of the training was far from satisfying in her perspective, so how could they be laughing like it was nothing? She couldn’t understand them at all.

* * *

Ciel stopped in front of the General Grem’s door and took out her golden pocket watch. She still had about an hour left before leaving for the next training session, but she felt the need to talk to her superior officer. The team’s captain had already left for the training preparation on site, leaving the general as the person she could report to. Or rather, to negotiate with.

“Good afternoon, Corporal. It’s rare to see you here at this hour.”

The vice captain was surprised by the sudden greeting and saw that she wasn’t alone in the hall. A tall woman with red hair in a white coat was present beside her and was smiling as the cadet gave her an awkward salute.

“P-Please forgive my ignorance of your presence, Doctor Leah,” Ciel stuttered. “My mind is rather… occupied…”

The woman looked over the door in front of the vice captain, guessing that she had some business with the general. “The general is out on an important meeting right now, so I’ll hear any reports you have for him. General Grem himself asked me to take over his office duties for the moment.”

“It…” she paused for a moment to look around the hall cautiously before facing the woman once more, “It concerns Unit Zero’s training, Doctor. I would like to talk to General Grem about the progress of the training.”

The smile on Leah’s face faded, replaced by a serious look before she opened the door. “Let’s talk inside. The look on your face tells me that it’s something serious.”

Ciel only gave her a silent nod, following as Leah went into the empty office. She stood silently by the door once she closed it, watching as the older woman was cleaning up the ashtray the general used. The office was as messy as she was used to and she wasn’t expecting the older woman to clean up the mess he had created daily as she was certain that the older woman had other duties to attend to.

“I believe that you’re in a rush, so I guess I’ll save the idle chat for later,” Leah started as she leaned against the general’s partially messy desk. “Did something happen in your unit?”

The vice captain shook her head. “It can’t be described as something that happened within the team, but it’s most likely best to be referred as a personnel-related issue,” Ciel walked over to the desk, taking a familiar folder from the messy document stack on the desk before handing it over to Leah. “This is the most recent training report and the result is far from satisfying for the first week of training.”

The older woman was looking over at the report as Ciel was explaining, nodding as she listened to her. “Yes, I think I can see the problem you’re trying to say−”

“Would a personnel transfer be possible?”

Leah looked over to the vice captain for the sudden and unexpected suggestion. “Another transfer?”

“Yes,” she gave her a quick nod. “From the expectations of how Unit Zero is supposed to operate in the battle, experienced soldiers would be an optimal choice. The training menu should only be focusing on their best skills and expanding them rather than training them from a blank state.”

A sigh escaped Leah’s lips as she looked over to the stacks of documents. “I’ve heard… similar complaints from other instructors about your team. I might sound selfish, but it’s a decision of mine to form your team to honor my late sister’s wish.”

“Doctor Rachel…”

“Yes…” the woman started wandering around in the room, looking through the drawers before she took out a single folder. “Unlike you and Lieutenant Visconti, none of them has military background. It was from Rachel’s wish that a number of people with special genes in their blood would lead our country towards victory,” She started browsing through the folder with her back turned to the vice captain. “Their personal problems might be a factor for their late development in training, but I trust that what my sister had said and studied to be true.”

Ciel stood still in her place, feeling that despite the written results, she didn’t have the right to question her superiors. She had been told of the same story before, but the facts she had seen made the story seemed less and less believable. Only one person other than her and Julius had some battle experience, but his disobedience could be a problem in the battlefield. The other three had no noticeably useful skills that could aid in battle despite most of them being more obedient to orders.

“If that’s everything you wanted to say, then I suggest you start preparing for the next training session,” Leah turned to Ciel slightly with a confident smile. “Perhaps there will be a new discovery about their hidden skills in this session. The training regiment you put together is very nice, so I think it won’t be too long until they find out their hidden specialties.”

The vice captain paused for a moment, trying to recall if the team was starting to show some improvement. Their talents in the things they liked doing in their free time might have been the subtle hints, but more time in various training would truly determine their skills. It had been proven true for as long as she could remember and if her superior was quite certain about it, then she would try and give them another chance.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Ciel stood up straight with a salute. “I apologize for taking your time. I shall take my leave now.”

Leah watched in silence as the vice captain left the room and let out a sigh. “She’s grown into a fine young woman, but the military customs have prevented her from thinking about other possibilities outside superior’s words…” She turned towards the window, slightly opening the curtain as she looked up at the sky.

‘ _Is this how things are supposed to be for her and the rest of Unit Zero, my dear sister…?’_

* * *

Parts of the sky was changing colors from blue to orange as the sun was starting to set. The group of six cadets were gathered by a waterfall, surrounded by the forest and rivers flowing through it. The loud crashing sound of the waterfall had forced Julius to speak louder as he explained to the group about what they had to do, but one person remained ignorant to most of his explanation.

“… And that is all. Try and swim back to this waterfall before it gets dark.”

“Now we’re going to swim around the entire forest, eh?” Gilbert asked in an arrogant tone as he started stretching. “No problem at all!”

An annoyed sigh escaped the captain’s lips and was audible enough that Ciel had taken notice as well, but the strange behavior coming from one of her subordinates had caught her attention as well. When the three had already jumped into the river for the aquatic exercise, the brunette crouched down by the side of the river as his body was trembling.

“Is something wrong, Cadet?” The vice captain’s stern voice had started him to the point that he almost fell into the river himself.

Hiro was looking at the two as cold sweat dripped down his face and his breathing was short and quick. Julius shoved the clipboard he was holding to the vice captain and approached the brunette before crouching down to his level. He put a hand over the brunette’s forehead to check for a fever, only to realize that continuing the swimming exercise for him was out of the question.

“Is it aquaphobia?”

“N-No!” the brunette quickly replied as he tried splashing the water from the river to himself before dipping his feet into the river. “I-I’ll jump right in and be right back−”

“You cannot swim,” Ciel pointed out without a hint of doubt and the reaction she got from him told her that she was correct.

“How did you−”

“It doesn’t matter,” the vice captain sternly responded as she flipped through the clipboard. “There is no mention of this in your registration form. This can be considered a lie in order to be admitted into the army and there are consequences you must face.”

Hiro looked at her guiltily as he removed his feet from the river. He stood up with his head still hanging low, trying to avoid making eye contact with his superiors. “I’m… sorry… I just thought that having no fear or not lacking some unrelated skill would increase my chances of being accepted…”

Julius saw as the brunette bowed down in apology towards them and stood still in the bowing position as neither him nor Ciel gave him a response. The captain let out a defeated sigh as he put his hand on the brunette’s shoulder, pulling him up to face him. “It’s a required skill while you’re in this team, Cadet, but I have no plans on reporting the lack of information in your registration data.”

“But Captain−”

“That’s enough,” the blond responded sternly as he faced his vice captain. “This team is my responsibility and it is also my responsibility to train him myself if I have to.”

Hiro looked at Julius in surprise, not expecting the captain’s suggestion on training him. “B-But why?”

“This is not the time to question your superior officers, Cadet Kamui,” he gave the brunette a stern look before he turned to Ciel. “Stand guard here, Vice Captain. Let me know if those three have returned.”

The vice captain paused for a moment in doubt, but the unchanging expression on the captain’s face had temporarily cleared her doubts as she gave him a salute. “Yes Sir.”

“As for you, Cadet,” Julius turned to the confused Hiro before he looked over at the waterfall, “come with me to the waterfall area. The water should be more shallow there and it’s an ideal place to start.”

The blond didn’t take the time to wait for his response and walked ahead, but the brunette quickly snapped out of his confusion and ran after him. “R-Right! I’m coming!”

Ciel watched as the two disappeared into the woods once more, heading for the waterfall. She let out a sigh as she recalled the conversation she had with Doctor Leah, bringing back her intent to question her superior’s decision once more.

It was a new discovery about the team as she claimed before, though not a good one. From her perspective, the team was getting farther and farther away from the idea of an elite team.

* * *

Birds were chirping as they flew through the orange sky. Traces of the day turning into night was becoming more visible just as the atmosphere of the woods in the night was becoming clearer. Sounds of crickets and owls were echoing through the forest as the two younger cadets took some time to rest on the small island surrounded by the river.

“Oooh…” Romeo spread his arms as he let himself fall onto the wet grass behind him. “My body feels so sore all over…”

“And I’m hungry…” Nana joined him on his side as well, lying on her belly. “I want to eat dinner already…”

The two let out tired sighs in unison, ignoring the splashing water nearby as Gilbert was swimming towards them. Having experienced physical training before, he didn’t look too exhausted even after swimming for almost an hour with little time for breaks in between. He chuckled as he went over to their side, seeing as the two wasn’t planning on continuing the exercise anytime soon.

“You better get those bodies moving already,” the dark brunette told them as he stopped by the small island. “We can’t get home unless we’re all back at the starting point.”

The dark-haired young woman pushed herself up unwillingly before she let herself fall into the muddy area once more. “But I’m too hungry to swim again…”

Romeo looked at his hunger-struck friend as he slowly sat up before looking at the direction opposite of where Gilbert had come from.

“Did anyone see Hiro anywhere?” the blond asked as he stared at the calm river water where they had come from, prompting the other two to do the same as well. “We’ve been swimming for so long that I didn’t notice him around.”

Gilbert didn’t respond as he went out of the water and joined the two on the small island. He ignored his drenched clothes, which was clearly not made for submerging in water, as he sat down next to Nana. “That kid’s probably not a swimmer. I saw him standing completely still with a pale face when we were told that we were going to swim.”

The dark-haired young woman slowly pushed herself up, sitting up while facing the opposite direction of the men. She tilted her head as she tried recalling the moment with the briefing, but she was too busy admiring the woods surrounding them to notice Hiro’s nervous gestures. One thing she did notice though, was the fact that dark brunette was a little more approachable and he didn’t talk back to their superiors during the briefing.

“Man, I wasn’t even paying attention about him being weird and stuff!” the blond was sliding through the mud and into the water once more. “Come on, let’s go back and find him before he drowns somewhere!”

The dark brunette watched as Romeo swam away and was about to jump into the water as well, until he had some sort of white substance shoved towards his face. “W-What the heck?! What is this thing?!”

“It’s my newest cake called ‘The Gil Special’!” Nana noticed the amused look on the older cadet’s face and then saw the white liquid dripping off the plastic bag she used to cover her creation. “W-Well, I hope you don’t mind the extra sogginess, but it’s definitely meant to be a soggy kind of cake!”

Gilbert gave her a blank stare as Nana put the drenched cake on his hands before she dived into the lake once more to catch up with her blond friend. Once she was out of sight, the dark brunette’s gaze went back to the shapeless and dripping cake in his hands as he hesitantly took a bite of it. Despite the unusual look it had, the flavor of the cake had brought a smile to his face as he recalled the name Nana had given it.

“The Gil Special, huh… I guess I’ll have to start getting used to that name again…”

* * *

“Alright, that should be enough for now.”

Hiro looked up with a relieved smile as he was still nervously grabbing onto the rocks by the river. Even as the loud roaring sound of the waterfall heard in the background, the order he had wanted to hear the most once he got into the water was finally given. The neutral, expressionless face Julius was giving him made him assume that his training wasn’t a complete disappointment.

The brunette hurriedly went out of the water and as he stood proudly in front of his team captain, he gave him a salute. “Thank you, Captain Visconti! I promise I won’t forget what I’ve learned in this training!”

The gesture had only prompted the captain to chuckle in amusement. “You… you’re quite an interesting one, Cadet. I can only assume that you had something to do with the fact that I can see McLane and Leoni not arguing for some time.”

“Well, I guess I kinda poked my nose into his personal life a bit…” the brunette laughed nervously. “I’ve only talked with him after we saw the old photo he dropped and Gil just opened up to me before saying that he would apologize to Romeo later on.”

“Gil?”

A questioning look from Julius made the brunette realize that he had referred someone above his rank by an informal name. “S-Sorry, I slipped up on the nicknames. He didn’t mind people knowing about that name, but he just didn’t want to be called that anymore.”

The older blond’s expression didn’t change as he nodded, deciding not to press on his negligence on respect towards his superiors for the time being. “I see. While it’s not good to pry into other people’s affairs, I can personally say that the way you’re handling things is tolerable enough that I don’t need to report you for discipline issues.”

“N-No, Sir! It won’t happen… no wait…” Hiro paused for a moment as he was trying to think of other words to prevent him from being marked as too curious. “I… I won’t pry into others’ private lives more than necessary…?”

Another chuckle came from the blond as he gestured him to follow as they headed back to the place where the others would be.

The captain’s first impression of the brunette was far from the best thing, but Hiro’s presence in the team had somehow lighten up the tension between Romeo and Gilbert. He could guess that the prominent abilities his team had weren’t restricted to battle-related ones. The brunette’s calming and lively presence had first annoyed him as an officer, but he was still dependable as a person.

* * *

“Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have asked about it…”

The dark brunette quickly rose from his bed, looking down at the guilty-looking cadet on the bunk below and across his. “H-Hey, I’m… cool with it… I just feel kinda out of it back then I guess…”

“Okay…” Hiro didn’t sound too convinced after hearing the hesitant response and lied on his own bed with a long sigh. “But wouldn’t that mean that you’re joining the army just to stab them in the back?”

A sigh escaped the older cadet’s lips. “In a way, yeah… I figured I’ll just find the killer and be done with the army, but I guess you guys aren’t so bad after all…”

“Even Romeo?”

“The kid’s got some issues,” Gilbert was quick to answer as he chuckled. “He’s kinda annoying to me, but I don’t think he’s a bad guy.”

“He’s not and I don’t think any of us are,” the brunette responded as he rolled to the side, facing Gilbert’s bunk. “But still, while I don’t mind being a listener, why are you telling me all this about your old life anyway? All I needed was to sort out things between you and Romeo so that we won’t have problems with teamwork training later on.”

There was a pause before the dark brunette shrugged. “I don’t know… I guess you’re kinda comfortable to talk to that everything just came out,” He looked down at Hiro before he slid down and jumped from his bunk bed. “I’m still against being called ‘Gil’ again though. I don’t care if people knows about the stupid nickname, but I don’t think I want to be called by that name by anyone anymore… or at least, anyone but you guys… maybe…”

“Just take it easy on the names, though. If the name brings back the painful memories with them, maybe we shouldn’t force you with it,” Hiro kicked himself into a sitting up position and stretched his arms. “Well, I guess we’ve spent most of the break time talking. I think it’s about time we start preparing for the next training session.”

Gilbert responded with a nod. “Yeah, and I need to apologize to Romeo too. No matter how he acted then, I guess it was an unnecessary argument that I started.”

“Alright, we’ll just fetch him before preparing… though I still don’t get why we need to train outside when we already have a lot of facilities to use…”

“What you do in the field isn’t as ideal as what you learn in books,” Hiro gave the dark brunette an amused look, surprised at the unusual words of wisdom. “Not mine. Just a bit from that friend of mine, just… don’t ask about what the original context is about.”

“Okay… I guess…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if mentioning the training rifle's model is necessary, though it makes it easier to point out the old and ancient facilities Unit Zero has to use for their training. As for the context of the 'words of wisdom', I think I don't need to mention it when you know whom Gil was referring to...


	4. Failure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter is up! Gotta use up this so-called week off and write/edit this story!

The color of the sky was darkening. Black clouds could be seen as the soldiers were gathering in the mess hall for lunchtime. The weather condition would’ve changed their training schedules if they had outdoor training, but it wasn’t their present concern. Cheers and laughs echoed in the big room, mixed with the sounds of eating utensils hitting the metallic plates.

Most of Unit Zero members had also finished their morning training and headed for the hall in a hurry as the rumbling thunders could be heard in the distance. Hiro was left behind to help the captain put back the training spears they had to use, though going ahead of Julius to the mess hall. While it didn’t feel like a long way from the storage room to the mess hall, he definitely wasn’t liking the fact that he would have a few minutes less of break time for lunch.

The brunette was only a few steps away from the door leading into the building where the mess hall was, until the sudden rustling from the bushes nearby had surprised him. He jumped back from the jump scare, staring at the moving bushes before he approached it cautiously.

He knew that the security within the military area was tight, but he could say for sure that it wasn’t perfect if an intruder could sneak in to strike down any in-training cadets. But if he could capture them and save the others from a possible ambush, he would’ve had a better time through the training or even a quick promotion!

He felt like he had hit a jackpot, as the intruder was dumb enough to make a noise loud enough that he could notice their presence. It was his only chance at being acknowledged and it was now or nothing!

“I will get you, intruder!”

Hiro dived into the moving bushes, aiming to grab anything he could from the intruder and prove his worth. His hand managed to grab something as they struggled to break free from his grasp, except the ‘limb’ he felt to have grabbed was furry and a lot bigger than he expected. The struggle came into a stop and the brunette took a closer look at his capture, which had only given him disappointment.

“What, just a stray cat?” The brunette held up the orange-furred creature, only for it to struggle and break free from his hands, running away from his grasp. “Today’s still not the time I save the day, huh…”

He let out a sigh as he rose from his spot in the bushes and brushed away the leaves and twigs from his training uniform. He looked around the area as he hoped that there was no other people other than him present in the area. A bit of sunlight came peeking through the black clouds, reflecting on a metal plate that was mostly used as the soldiers’ dining plate, except it was outside with some traces of leftover food on it.

It was strange to see a plate there when the rules strictly forbid anyone from eating outside the mess hall. Was there a person eating there and waiting to be caught for going against the rules?

The recent embarrassing memory of him catching a cat instead of a bad guy had kicked in once more, shrugging off the idea of trying to play hero once more. One embarrassing moment was more than enough, even if no one else was there to watch him make a joke of himself. He didn’t need another embarrassing mistake.

Another sigh came out from him as he went into the mess hall while dragging his feet and hanging his head low from the disappointment, only to be grabbed and dragged forcefully by two of his teammates.

“H-Hey! Romeo! Nana! What are you guys doing?!”

The dragging came into a stop as the two pushed him towards one of the dining tables. The force wasn’t hard enough that he could land and sit on the bench without causing more embarrassing moments for him in the day. Once he had a more comfortable sitting position, the brunette looked up at them in confusion as the duo had excited smiles on their faces.

“Did… something good happen while I’m gone…?” Hiro didn’t get an answer other than the smiles on their faces, but the fact that Gil was missing had also caught his attention. “Not just that, though. Where’s Gil anyway?”

The excited squeal coming from Nana had given him the impression that the presence of their other teammate wasn’t relevant anymore. From the looks they were giving him, there was no way it had anything to do with Gil.

The short silence stopped as Romeo sat next to him and patted him on the shoulder. “You know, I’ve just heard some other cadets talking about having finished the basic training after this whole month. You know what else comes after that?”

“Uh…” Hiro looked back and forth between the two in confusion as the answer still hadn’t come into his mind. “I… guess less intensive training?”

The dark-haired young woman couldn’t contain her excitement anymore as she grabbed his shoulders. “We are going to be promoted! We’re going to be like… maybe corporals or… maybe majors!”

“Whoa, hold it right there, Nana!” the blond told her, but she wasn’t calming down from her excitement. “I don’t think we’re going to be promoted to corporals just yet, but at least we’re going to be private-ranked soldiers,” He leaned back on the table and put his arms behind his head. “I think there’s also a screening first, but as long as we’re done with the basic training, we don’t think we’ll have any issues with the promotion.”

“Yes!” the brunette yelled as he pumped his fists into the air, but the loud crowd in the mess hall had prevented him from attracting too much attention. “Now that’s what I’m talking about! An actual promotion worth all that stupidly tiring training sessions and detentions!”

“I know, right?” The two had put their arms around each other’s shoulders with smiles on their faces. “I know everyone is going to be promoted and the vice captain even stopped giving out mean comments about your training!”

The good news had purged the embarrassment off the brunette’s head as all sorts of achievement medals he was going to receive came into his mind. A promotion after some hard training would be worth all the time and pain he had to go through. Perhaps it could actually mean that he had a chance trying to get closer to the vice captain he had fallen for since the first day.

A grin had subconsciously made its way to his face, but his happy thoughts were soon interrupted with the sound of metal clanging coming from behind him. “There’s no guarantee about a promotion after only a month of training, but there’s a good chance that you guys with have that promotion everyone is talking about.”

“Hey, what gives?” Romeo stood up, looking slightly annoyed. “Are you saying that we’re not good enough for a promotion?”

Gil chuckled as he casually sat down across the three. “Nah, I guess you guys aren’t half-bad for a promotion. At least our two superiors aren’t complaining that much anymore and skills wise, I guess you guys have something good enough for that General Mustache.”

The blond and brunette snickered from the nickname he had for the general as Nana was looking at him curiously. “What about you, Gil? Would that mean you’ll get a promotion like us too?”

“If I do then those higher ups are dumb,” the dark brunette responded as he leaned back slightly. “Nobody’s going to like having a trash-talking officer leading them and it’s not like a give a damn about the rank promotions anyway.”

Gil’s ignorant attitude had gained the three’s attention, but they were quick to shrug it off as he casually had his lunch.

“So,” Hiro patted Romeo’s shoulder, “when’s this official promotion going to be?”

The blond searched through his own uniform before he took out a notebook from one of his pockets. “Let’s see…” he took a moment to browse through the pages of his notebook before putting it on the table for the others to see, “I’ve asked around earlier this week and the promotion should be some time around… tonight…?”

“Whoa, that soon?!” Nana had taken the notebook to check on the notes in disbelief before she shoved it back to its owner in a panic. “I haven’t thought about what I should make to celebrate our promotion! I really have to cook something really good for our team!”

“That’s… what you’re so worked up for…?”

The dark-haired woman gave the blond a frown from the unexcited response she got from him. “Come on, Romeo! My cooking isn’t that bad, okay? Just…” her gaze shifted towards her food tray, which was filled with the mess of food she had been working on since lunchtime started, “… maybe a little bit unusual?”

“Just admit it already,” Gil cut into the conversation once more as the three of them turned just in time to see him digging his fork into one of Nana’s creations off her tray. “I don’t think there’s anyone, other than our captain and vice captain, who has tried any food experiments she made and hates it. You said it yourself that the cooking experiment genes run in her blood.”

“W-Well, that’s−”

“And it’s a lot better than the rations they gave us!” the brunette interrupted as he gave Nana a thumbs up. “Better make them in large portions because Romeo and Gil probably won’t leave me a single bite to try!”

The dark brunette chuckled in response. “More like he’s trying to inhale my own share while I’m trying to eat.”

The group burst into laughter, with Romeo being playfully offended from the tease.

“Oh, come on you guys!”

* * *

It was a little over midday. Most of the cadets had resumed their activities in the class after lunch, leaving most of the outdoor training sites empty. The quiet atmosphere around the base due to the lack of activity had made some subtle nature sounds to be heard more clearly. The birds were chirping as they were flying in the darkening sky. The sounds of rumbling thunder were occasionally heard, though the loud sound didn’t keep anyone in the base from performing their duties.

The blond captain of Unit Zero closed the curtains of his small office, blocking the outside view as he went back to his desk. He wasn’t assigned to be a class instructor like most cadets around his age as he had logistic-related matters he had to take care of. He already had a team to take care of and despite the unpleasant comments coming from other instructors, he had seen and believed in his team’s potential.

The response to his report about the end of basic training was already in his hand, through which an official order to meet directly with the general was given. He had only read a part of it when he heard someone knocking on his door.

“Captain, I’m here to submit my report,” the stern voice of the vice captain was heard from the other side of the door.

The captain took another quick look at the official letter in his hand before he decided to save it down for a little later. “Come in, Vice Captain.”

Julius leaned back on his seat as his subordinate entered his office, giving him a salute before she put a folder in front of him. “This is the compiled report of Unit Zero’s basic training results. The result is rather low from what is expected to be the core unit of the upcoming battle.”

“Rather low?” the blond asked as he opened up the folder and flipped through the pages in it. Some parts were marked in red ink to indicate an issue or the lack of skill, though he had seen results much worse than this. “Can you describe in detail about the low result you said?”

Ciel silently took the folder back as he offered her and opened it to start describing its contents.

“Private McLane has shown some proficient skills in terms of weapons, mainly spears and guns, as well as being an excellent engineer. His main issue is his lack of discipline, the lack of respect for his instructors regardless of rank, and his inability to cooperate well enough in a team. This is especially evident when he is in the same team as Cadet Leoni, but their teamwork in the past week has started showing some improvement.”

“Yes, it seems like the two of them is starting to get along better in the team,” the blond subconsciously commented, prompting the vice captain to stop and look at him for permission to continue. “I’m sorry. Please continue.”

“Cadet Leoni excels very well in classes, but he has a tendency to have his own plans when he is training in the field. He lacks the stamina for physical exercises and his other technical skills in the field is around average, but he can absorb new information fast. This is quite the opposite to Cadet Kozuki who has better stamina and physical abilities, but she has some difficulties trying to understand the given lectures.”

Julius was nodding as the vice captain was explaining the progress of their team, which he found to be not as bad as he initially thought. He had expected one more person to be mentioned in the report, only to see the folder neatly closed on his desk once more.

“There’s still one more person left in our team,” he told her as he looked up at her. “What about Cadet Kamui’s progress? Isn’t there anything to report?”

Ciel shook her head with her usual stoic expression, despite being fully aware of the last person not in her report. “I’m aware of his presence in the team, Sir, although I have nothing to report about the development of his skills. Compared to the others, there are hardly any significant development in his skills which can aid the army in the field.”

Out of disbelief, the captain flipped through the folder himself and read the details of the brunette’s progress. Rather than training progress, the report was mostly filled with complaints coming from the class instructors about his behavior and unpleasant comments about his incompetence in various basic training. A few of them were written by him, as he recalled the training sessions himself.

One look from other lieutenants and the brunette would be removed from the team early on, but Julius had felt that he still had that one special skill which would help. One that most cadets would ignore, but it was something he couldn’t overlook as a leader.

“I would like to request his transfer from the team in order to balance the advanced training set starting from the upcoming week.”

Julius looked up from the report files, slightly surprised at her suggestion. “A transfer?”

“Yes,” she gave him a firm answer, one which he could tell had been in her mind for a while. “His inability to progress well enough through basic training could become a hindrance to the other team members as they started with advanced training. I believe removing him from the team would be an optimal choice to improve the ability of the team.”

Her eyes had told him that she was insistent on her own suggestion that she most likely had an argument for him if he decided to keep the brunette in the team. Little did she know that Julius himself had been ordered to keep the team as a whole and report his findings to the higher ups except General Grem. Even if he wasn’t given the order, the blond captain had planned to observe the team, especially the brunette, as they went through various training.

He had noticed one thing about the brunette when Ciel had not.

Julius rose from his seat with a smile as he reopened the curtains of his windows. “Have you ever thought the possibility of a single person being able to change something big?”

“Pardon?”

“Have you not noticed yet, Corporal Alencon?” the captain addressed her by her rank as he asked in a serious tone. “I believe you know about how the army used to recruit only native Susano’o people. Yet, we only have two natives while the rest of us falls to the category ‘foreigners’.”

“Indeed, although I believe this decision was made in order to build a stronger army with different backgrounds and win this war,” the vice captain responded. “It is our duty to fight and win the upcoming war as the people has suffered for far too long in countless of battles.”

Hearing her response, Julius let out a chuckle as he closed the curtains shut and walked back towards his desk. “Doctor Rachel taught you well, though I don’t think you’ve known everything need to know about this battle we’re about to face.”

“Is there something else important, Captain?” Ciel gave her captain a questioning look.

“I can’t say anything yet for sure, but I highly request you to hold off your suggestion on changing the current team setup,” The captain was looking away at her as his face remained serious. “I can assume that the generals of our military force are desperate to win this battle with our team as the core fighters. Something isn’t right with that as our priority would be the probability of civilians involved, but I can’t draw any baseless accusations.”

“But Captain−”

“He might be the special one among the special force as Doctor Rachel once claimed,” Julius interrupted sternly. “His combat skills might take longer to develop, but I do believe that he still has something good to offer as a person.”

The vice captain went silent as her words couldn’t reach out to him. She could obviously see that the brunette had no hope of improving to be useful in time, yet the captain refused her proposal on moving him out of the team. What she couldn’t accept more was the fact that he was questioning his own superior’s motives when she had always believed that the entire military force was formed to protect the civilians from harm. They were to serve the country while risking their lives, nothing more and nothing less.

Anything outside her orders were nothing of concern to her.

“If there’s nothing else to report, then I need you to leave me to work here,” the captain’s voice was stern as he went back to the documents on his desk.

Ciel gave him a light nod before saluting. “I apologize for my behavior a moment ago. I shall take my leave, Captain.”

Julius watched the vice captain as she left his office, but the hint of annoyance in her voice wasn’t something which went unnoticed. He had known that the suggestion she had suggestion was more on the logical side for the sake of the team’s improvement, but he couldn’t help but wonder if emotions were a part of that suggestion. Those assumptions of his were supported by the fact that her negative comments on the report about the brunette were a lot more unpleasant compared to what she had written for the other team members.

* * *

“Congratulations, both of you are now promoted to the rank of private for the completion of your basic training.”

The looks of both surprise and joy were clearly visible on Romeo’s and Nana’s faces as they cheered for their rank promotion, ignoring the fact that they were present in General Grem’s office. The general himself looked displeased at their behavior while Doctor Leah, who was standing beside his desk chuckled from the sight. The smile on her face soon faded as her gaze fell on the expectant brunette.

“You’re saving the best announcement for last, right?” Hiro asked as he barely could contain his excitement, though the glare coming from the general made him realize about the behavior he wasn’t supposed to show his superior. “I-I mean, would I be getting a better promotion, Sir?”

The red-haired doctor put her hands together nervously. “Yes, about your promotion−”

“We don’t have the time and funds to waste on useless trash like you,” the general interrupted her with an unexpected blunt comment. “You can’t even do a single damn thing right and here you expect a bigger promotion? Does the army seem like a joke to you?!”

Silence fell in the room as the general had raised his voice in anger and slammed his hand on the desk. The cheers coming from the two cadets had died down almost immediately along with the prideful look on Hiro’s face. Leah was also surprised by her superior’s words as she was trying herself to put it in better words to say. The eyes in the silent room quickly went towards the general once more as he lit his cigarette before stamping on a few documents on his desk.

“I’m not in the mood for another argument tonight. Go back to your rooms.”

The three stood still in the room, still in shock from what happened just moments ago. Rustling noises of the documents being moved around on the desk was loudly heard from the tense atmosphere in the room, until the red head quickly shoved the three out as the general took another glance at the cadets.

“I’m sorry, but I have to ask you to leave,” she told them in a whisper as she stood by the door once the three of them were out of the room. “The promotion came at a bad timing, but please don’t take his words too seriously at times like this.”

Leah had already closed the door before they could say anything else. Romeo and Nana looked at each other quietly before they looked over to the distraught brunette. He was blankly staring at the wall across the door as a look of disappointment was clearly painted on his face. The blond was the first one to make a move in an attempt to comfort him, but his hand was quickly slapped away from the brunette’s shoulder before he ran away from the two of them.

“H-Hey! Wait!” Nana was about to chase him along with Romeo behind her, only to see the brunette running into their captain.

Hiro refused to look up at him and pushed him aside as he ran out of the hallway. Julius didn’t look like he was surprised as he was pushed away and he didn’t call out to him for his behavior. Instead, the blond captain approached the remaining two cadets of his team.

“I had a feeling something like this would happen when I read the official letter about the rank promotion,” Julius calmly commented before he looked back at the direction where Hiro had run off to. “He might need some time on his own, but I’ll be sure to talk to him once he is ready to speak.”

“Is it really okay to just leave him like that, Captain?” the dark-haired young woman asked worriedly as she looked over the captain’s shoulder, but the brunette was already out of her sight. “He was so excited when we told him about the promotion, but General Grem…”

The blond captain let out an annoyed sigh. “Looks like I arrived too late,” Julius looked at the general’s door as he could faintly hear the general’s voice from the inside and the tone he heard wasn’t pleasant. Another sigh escaped his lips before he walked past the two. “You two should go back to the dorm quickly before it starts raining. I still have some important matters to discuss with both Doctor Leah and General Grem.”

“But what about−” Romeo’s question was met with the sound of door closing as Julius entered the general’s office.

The two cadets stood silently for a moment, looking at the door as voices from inside the office could be heard faintly. The sound of heavy downpour soon drowned the voices as Romeo and Nana were left with no choice but to return to the dorm and hope that Hiro had returned there despite the previous commotion. Even if he weren’t, they had no idea where he had gone and the rain would be preventing them from roaming in the outdoor area for too long.

Even if they could somehow find him, it wouldn’t be easy to talk over the brunette’s great disappointment.

* * *

The sky was covered with dark clouds and the rain was pouring heavily. He was very well aware of the bad weather, but he couldn’t bear being with the others moments longer. They were leagues above him and they deserved to be in the team more than he ever was. He wouldn’t want to believe it at first, but he had no other choice when the truth was shown right in front of him.

He was the only one left without a rank and to make matters even worse, he didn’t get the promotion most cadets would’ve got after completing the basic training. His presence in the team would’ve been a humiliation as Unit Zero was expected to be the elite of not just the army, but the whole military force. An elite team didn’t need a failure like him.

It didn’t feel like him to be sulking after a downfall, but disappointment had struck him hard this time. Getting his vice captain to notice him was a complete failure and the captain was a rival he couldn’t beat. Captain Visconti was too good in too many things that his efforts of showing off had backfired to the point that his training progress was the worst in the team.

The downpour wasn’t making his depression any better as he curled in a corner of a building closest to him. His training shirt was drenched and his pants felt heavier, but the cold was nothing compared to the emotions within him.

He was upset and disappointed with hopelessness lingering within. Quitting the army would be an option, though he had nothing or anyone to come back to. His desire for some battle action fueled by his desire to become stronger and better than anyone had driven him to join the army in the first place.

When everything was taken away from him, he felt empty.

The sound of lighting had him jump in surprise as old memories suddenly resurfaced.

He recalled having been in a similar position before under the same weather condition. The memory had forever burned in his mind as warm blood splattered on his face. An unknown silhouette had broken out through the window, leaving the lifeless bodies of his parents on the floor of his home.

He was too afraid to act on his own, but his survival from the unknown attacker came at the cost of his parents’ lives. He couldn’t do anything as his parents tried to protect him, their only son, allowing the attacker to take their lives. His inability from then had grown into a desire to get stronger, only to be struck down by the fact of his incompetence.

He hugged his legs closer as he tried shrugging off the negative thoughts from his head. He just didn’t want anyone to suffer like he had, but he couldn’t even do basic things well enough. How could he hope to protect when he couldn’t even fight properly? Was he fated to have big dreams without the required skill to even take the first step?

A loud sigh escaped his lips as more and more negative thoughts flooded his mind. It had been years since he decided for himself that he would stop sulking and move on, but it was hard for him to forget about the humiliation. Perhaps it was best to leave and start something new outside the military walls when everyone was busy celebrating their promotion.

The brunette stood up and among the heavy downpour, he looked ahead to make out the color red in the distance. He realized that he had somehow ended up as far as the shooting range, where his failure was most often pointed out. He saw a training rifle carelessly put on the bench when it was supposed to be put back into the storage room, but the existence of the training weapon in front of him brought back the urge for him to try again.

He wanted to try and see if he could practice enough to be better, making a place for himself in the army.

* * *

She was being a careless vice captain that day. The captain’s words had lingered in her head for the rest of the day that she realized she didn’t bring an umbrella with her as she went out to deliver some documents. She was conflicted between trusting in her captain’s personal opinion or trusting the written reports and what she had witnessed herself.

An incompetent soldier should’ve been kept away from direct combat to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed. It was very clear to her that one of her subordinates, whom she noticed to have been trying to speak with her mostly for personal matters, had no useful skills in battle. He couldn’t even take his training seriously compared to his other teammates and his lack of respect towards his superiors only made things worse for him.

Removing him from the team would be an optimal solution to keep him from dying, but protecting him wasn’t her objective at all. It was a rule she had been taught through most of her life. It was to get better in fights or die by the enemy’s hand. It was also a direct order that none of Unit Zero shall be exposed to unnecessary life-threatening danger.

She could almost make a book of his attempts on trying to get her to talk about things unrelated to work, but her first priority would be finding a temporary shelter as she waited for the rain to stop. The vice captain was looking around the area for any buildings for shelter, but the visibility around her was reduced because of the mist. Once the silhouette of a building was visible enough for her, she ran towards it in a rush.

Ciel had found herself in the shooting range, which was the closest place she could reach for shelter. The thick and waterproof material of her uniform had kept her mostly dry despite the heavy downpour, but she wasn’t planning on running through the rain towards her next destination. She would need to wait until either the rain stopped or turned into a minor drizzle.

The vice captain was about to enter the office to find something she could use to dry her hair, until she saw someone in black curling on the other side of the range. She cautiously approached the figure, until they popped their head out from between their kneels to reveal the familiar brown hair of her subordinate. The one she considered to the worst and least serious of her entire team.

Her tracks came into a stop a distance away from him, but the sound of her tapping heels had echoed loud enough for the cadet to notice her presence. Seeing her being present nearby, he quickly got up as he wiped his face but not before he carelessly dropped the training rifle he had leaning against his body. She could see that he was aware of her eyeing his every movement as he had a slight look of guilt as he picked up the rifle before giving her a salute.

“Vice Captain…” Hiro’s hand slowly dropped to his side as his vice captain eyed him quietly without a hint of emotions on her face. He looked down at the rifle he was holding, pointlessly tried hiding it from her view even if he knew himself that she had already seen it.

Ciel didn’t say a word to him as she walked past him and walked towards the firing range instead. She looked at the red target marks and vaguely saw bullet holes on them, even though she was aware that none of the teams were scheduled for target practice. She gave the cadet another look, but her actions had unintentionally caused him to flinch as he quickly tried avoiding his gaze.

She knew that he had used the range for practice without permission, but the main problem would be his lack of skill in shooting and the bad weather. Looking back to his previous attitude in practice, she noticed that his eyes had a different look rather than his laid-back self. Her head was running through many possible ways she could scold his rule-breaking attitude, but the scene she had seen moments ago had her thinking something other than the scolding.

The scene of a bullet barely hitting the outer most red target marking had brought up something deep within her that instead of her usual scolds, a question had come out of her mouth instead.

“Why did you decide to join the army?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The character development will be split into two parts, which is this chapter and the next one which will probably come around tomorrow maybe? Just to see if there's any progress on Hiro's attempts in trying to fit into the army and his not-so-great flirting attempt to get the vice captain.


	5. The Starting Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The new chapter is up, just as I promised! It got kinda longer after editing, but I'm still satisfied enough with the result.

“Why did you decide to join the army?”

Hiro blinked as he looked at his vice captain in confusion. The tone of her voice and the look on her face didn’t tell him the main reason why the question popped out of nowhere. It was hard to tell whether she was just curious or if the question itself was sarcasm due to his incompetence in training, judging from how often she scolded him harshly. He had always been trying to be nice to her while trying to get to know her better, only to be met by blunt comments and cold glares from her that the captain himself had to join in to stop her.

“What is the reason for your application to the army, to our country’s military?” Ciel asked once more, looking a little unhappy from the silence she was getting.

Slight curiosity. The brunette was relieved that she wasn’t going to bring up random topics for her to scold him, though he was surprised with the vice captain’s sudden curiosity in his background. He wasn’t planning on lying anymore since his weakness being exposed before had got him into trouble. Especially when he assumed that vice captain herself was finally opening up to him to the point that she was being curious about him.

That thought in his mind had made it harder for him not to smile as he told her his reason, but at least it was better that he had an answer rather than saying nothing at all to her question.

“I want to be a part of the action,” Hiro responded confidently. “I mean, what’s cooler than fighting and risking your life to protect your country?”

His casual response wasn’t taken well from the look of disdain on the vice captain’s face. He had expected another harsh comment from her, but she decided to leave his reasons at that point as she looked back at the target boards. She didn’t look too happy, but he couldn’t tell if it was from his response or the fact that he was using the facility without permission.

“Not good enough.”

Hiro blinked in surprise as he looked at Ciel in disbelief. He had expected her to scold him for breaking the rules or simply brush his slight progress of his shot hitting the outer circle of the target. He couldn’t clearly read her face as she turned to him, but as her gaze fell towards the training rifle he was hiding, he assumed that she wanted him to try shooting once more.

The brunette raised his rifle once more to shoot, except with his eyes far above the scope. He wasn’t aiming at all, which had prompted the vice captain to stop him before he could shoot.

She firmly held the rifle as she positioned it a little higher and lined up with his shoulder instead of his chest. The brunette didn’t resist as she pushed the back of his head and tried to position his eye at the scope so that he would have little trouble in aiming his shots. His shooting stance was still unstable, judging from how easily she could slide his feet around and knock his rifle a bit from its intended position.

Hiro had got the message that she was showing him the supposed stance in which he should shoot and looked at the target in front of him through the scope of his rifle. He was expected to try and shoot once more with better positioning despite the weather hindering his next attempts, but he stood still for a moment and looked away from the scope.

He gave Ciel a puzzled look, feeling surprised that it was the first time she put an effort in showing him how it was done instead of regarding him to be unable to perform the training as she usually would. Judging from how she ran into him by chance at the range, he knew that it wasn’t her plan to give him a review for the basics.

As he was staring at her in confusion, the water dripping from her wet hair had caught his attention and Hiro lowered the training rifle. “Uh… Vice Captain, I think you should−”

“Try shooting once more,” the vice captain replied sternly, ignoring the liquid dripping off her face. “Aim properly in the stance I’ve showed you before and see if it makes any difference at all.”

The brunette nodded lightly as he hesitantly raised the rifle in his hands and aimed at the target once more. The rain was clouding his vision of the target, but it felt better as the markings of the scope helped him predict where the bullet might landed. His shaky finger slowly pulled the trigger as he steadied his aim and a light bang was heard as he released his shot.

Hiro lowered his rifle once more to see where on the target his bullet had landed, but the rain and mist had prevented him from seeing clearly. Ciel had stepped to his side to check as well and for a quick moment, he could see her smile a little before she returned to her stoic self. She pointed at the target, letting her fingerless black glove to be slightly exposed to the rain.

“It’s over there. Your bullet landed almost in the innermost ring,” she told him as she looked at the target. “If you can land your shots closer to the center of the target, I shall reconsider overlooking this violation of yours.”

Was that her way of trying to praise his progress?

The brunette stole another glance at the vice captain, still surprised to hear more of her encouragement rather than scolding, if it could count as one. The satisfied smile she had for a quick moment before was nowhere to be seen, but the look in her eyes were different compared to the times when she had shrugged off his failed attempts without a second chance. She was determined to see how much he could do instead of classifying him as a failure of a soldier.

Hiro took a deep breath as he carefully aimed at the target once more. He ignored the fact that the misty area was still lowering his visibility as he aimed, knowing instinctively the target was right in the middle of the scope. He fired his next shot with the sound lighting damping the sound of the rifle and a new bullet hole formed on the target board, just a few millimeters away from the center of the target.

“W-Wow!” the brunette exclaimed as he took his eyes off the scope for a moment to admire his unexpected handiwork as it was almost a perfect shot. “Vice Captain, did you see−”

“Once more,” Ciel sternly interrupted as her gaze was still fixed on the target board. “Try shooting once more.”

The brunette didn’t object nor did he feel like he was being scolded. It was faint, but he could hear a hint of excitement coming from her as he almost landed a perfect shot. His confidence was getting a boost as he aimed once more and fired his next shot almost immediately.

The new hole almost merged with his previous attempt. It had landed just in the middle of the target.

“H-Hey… that was…” Hiro had an excited smile as he looked over at his vice captain, who looked clearly surprised. “It wasn’t just the rain playing tricks on me, right? I totally got the bullseye this time, right?”

Ciel’s gaze was still fixed on the target board as his cheers faded in the background. Despite the rainfall and the misty surroundings, she could see the damaged sandbag barrier behind the target boards. Signs of his previous failed attempts were clearly visible and he had most likely spent almost the entire ammunition meant for a team of at least four people just to try and land a single perfect shot.

He was taking his training a lot more seriously that she had originally thought and his many attempts had her subconsciously recall her vague past memories when she had many attempts to be better in the range. The proud and happy feeling of being praised for an accomplishment that not many people could achieve in such a short span of time.

“ _You really are our daughter after all! You are much younger than when your father first dominated the shooting range!”_

The praises her parents had given her then had been deeply buried by how her life had turned out to be after a single day she had failed herself, how she had failed her parents. Praises no longer held a meaning when they couldn’t even save the lives of others.

The voices of her parents faded into echoes in her head as their proud smiles were washed away by bloodshed and flames until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Ciel looked up to the worried eyes of Hiro, “Are you okay, Vice Captain? You were zoning out just now…”

“I…” she spoke softly as she was trying to avoid his gaze and quickly slapped his hand off her shoulder. “I-I’ll be fine. If you’re done here, please put the equipment you used back to the storage room.”

The brunette stood silently for a moment, noticing the slight nervousness in her gestures. Ciel stood still in her place with her back turned away from him while clutching her hands together. He turned over to the range, seeing that the rain was slowly letting up, but the cold wind was still blowing in the area. He had assumed that she was feeling cold from the weather that he took out a small towel from his pocket, putting it on the bench next to the vice captain.

“Vice Captain, you can use my towel to dry your hair if you want. I don’t want you to catch a cold for staying out here to train me,” he told her as he slowly backed away, but not before he saw her slightly turning to the side to respond with a silent nod. “And thanks for the extra training. I think you’re a great training instructor, Vice Captain.”

Hiro left her on her own as he headed for the storage room, which was technically an old office used to keep the rifles and protective gears.

He put the equipment in their respective places while looking at the dusty office furniture left in the room. Some old newspaper clippings were pinned on the wall as well as old photos of people he couldn’t recognize. One thing which stood out from the people in the photos were their uniform, which bore similar resemblance to the ones other units wore.

Some of the photos were put on frames and hung on the wall, except for one frame which was turned away. He ignored the dusty frame and flipped it out of curiosity, revealing a photo of a man as he held up his rifle proudly. A medal was hanging over his neck as some people surrounded him with a happy-looking cheer. There were letters written on a banner behind the man, but the photo had aged too much that it was barely readable.

The brunette looked back at the door and towards the glass window beside it. The familiar silver hair was still outside, either waiting for him to finish or for the rain to fully stop. He looked back at the photo he flipped and couldn’t help but feel a slight resemblance between her and the man on the photo. The photo was black and white, which made him unable to clearly tell whether the man had white or silver hair, which were both uncommon in the country.

Hiro decided that it was best to leave it be, knowing that she probably wouldn’t say anything about her personal life to him. He was sure it would be the case as he had already tried talking to her more than he could actually count and she would only end up telling him to do push ups instead. He wouldn’t bother trying to talk to her about it again, especially when he was already mentally exhausted from the only one in the team without the promotion.

The brunette stepped out of the room and found that while the weather wasn’t as bad as before, it was still raining as the day was slowly turning into night. The vice captain was still present as well, sitting by the bench with the towel he had lent her hung over her neck.

Her silver hair was still damp, though water wasn’t dripping off her hair anymore. As he walked closer, he saw that she was looking over a few documents intently. He assumed that she wasn’t aware of his presence standing beside her, until another curious question came from her.

“You don’t have any living relatives left?”

“Huh?”

Hiro wasn’t expecting to hear that kind of question coming from her that his response came out almost immediately. Her gaze quickly avoided him when he replied before she flipped over the page of the documents in her hand.

“I apologize for asking such a personal question,” she spoke with a slight hint of guilt. “Please forget that I asked.”

The brunette didn’t respond and watched as Ciel shuffled through the documents, coming across familiar photos clipped to the pages she went through. He sat down next to her, seeing that she was looking through their team members’ profiles. He could assume that she was trying to learn more about them personally, though he couldn’t think of a reason after seeing how she was more focused on work-related stuff compared to personal issues.

But if she was first curious about him and not everyone else, that could count as a progress of getting to know each other better, right? Even though he wasn’t the type of person who liked sharing about painful stories from the start.

“The answer for your question is a ‘yes’, Vice Captain,” Hiro spoke up, breaking the silence in the rainy atmosphere. “My parents were the only ones I have left before robbers broke into our house and bombed the entire building.”

He had told her a part of his tragic past with a casual tone, which prompted her to look at him in confusion. He was sure that she hadn’t expected him to respond like the way he did, especially when the death of his parents were involved. Logically it would leave a scar within him and while it did feel painful to him, he felt that he had grieved enough and he just had to move on.

“It’s all in the past. I don’t think it’s good for me if I keep on thinking about the past when I actually have a chance to make things better for the future,” Hiro continued speaking his mind as the vice captain beside him listened on. “I couldn’t do anything to protect them at that time, so I want to be a part of the action, learn how to fight, and protect others. Wars can cause many lives to be lost and kids like my old self to lose their parents, so I want to prevent as much deaths as possible.”

The brunette wasn’t thinking too much when he said all that. It felt like it had been in his mind for a while and everything just came out when he was speaking. He had hoped that his answer didn’t come out as weird as he didn’t feel like his usual carefree self when he said it, but the stare the vice captain was giving him made him feel like he had said something silly.

“I… I should go back to the others,” Hiro nervously told her as he quickly retreated to the entrance of the range, but stopped for a quick moment. “Uh… Sorry if my story sounded kinda stupid just now…”

Ciel looked at him, still looking puzzled, as the brunette gave her a quick salute before running through the drizzle and away from the range.

* * *

If she had to be honest herself, she was surprised to hear what her subordinate had said just moments ago. His actions never reflected the attitude a soldier was supposed to have that she had purposely tried to keep him out of the team. She had believed that she was doing the best for the team and for the army as she was training the ones who were capable and crossed out the incapable ones.

She had been taught for most of her life that perfection was the most important thing to consider when it came to skills, but the short conversation she had with him just now had brought back the time before that perfection came to play. It had been so deep in her mind that she had almost forgotten how much it took her to achieve her perfect shot and the sense of accomplishment she felt then. She had almost forgotten how it felt like as she wasn’t allowed to feel emotions freely.

Her mind went back to the brighter days of her early life as she carried the burden of her family name. Her parents had never forced her to be above their skills if she couldn’t. All she thought about then was making them proud of her, but they would always praise her however small her achievement was.

As the rain was pouring in front of her, Ciel looked up at the sky as she questioned what her parents had truly expected of her then.

“I have failed you, Father, Mother. Am I still worth your praises for the grave failure which had cost your lives?”

* * *

A young girl with silver hair was sitting a few meters away from a silver-haired man with earplugs covering her ears. A blonde woman was standing by her side, with both adults wearing identical green military uniforms.

The girl was looking around in confusion until a clicking sound from the man as he aimed at the target with the rifle in his hands. A loud bang was heard, startling the girl as a shot was fired from the rifle. A smoking hole was formed in the middle of the target board and additional shots from the rifle only caused the hole to become bigger.

“Perfect shots,” he commented with a smile before holding his rifle against his side as he turned to the girl and the woman. “Ciel, how about you try?”

The girl looked puzzled. She had never held a rifle before and the one her father had in his hands looked too heavy for her. She had expected to be lent the rifle he was holding, until she felt an extra weight on her hands.

A smaller and lighter rifle was in her hands. She lifted it up as she inspected it, trying to familiarize herself with the new weapon in hand. She looked at the woman, her mother, as she gave her a warm smile.

“It’s okay to miss. This is your first time trying it after all, but you’ll get used to it after you join the army when you’re older,” her mother told her as she put her warm and comforting hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at her mother, who responded with a warm and comforting smile, giving her a feeling of comfort that a smile made its way to her face as she slid down from her seat. Her mother had helped her fix the wrinkles on her turquoise dress before she made her way towards the shooting range. She could have tried aiming right away, until she realized a problem which brought chuckles to her parents.

She was just far too short to reach the walls of the firing range.

“Come here, you,” her father told her as he picked her up, setting her on top of the wall as he guided her hands to hold the rifle correctly. “There we go. You can try and aim your shots, young lady.”

Ciel gave him a confident nod and aimed at the target with her smaller rifle. The weight of the weapon was still a little too much for her which caused her the trouble of aiming properly. The sound of the bullet being shot was faint and much to her disappointment, her shot had landed right at the edge of the target board. The confidence she had previously had shrunk down from the failed attempt as she frowned.

A surprising pat on her head had prevented her head from hanging lower from shame. She looked back and was met by his smiling face instead of a disappointed frown, “Don’t worry about it. Even if it’s on the edge, you still hit the required target.”

“Indeed,” her mother agreed as she joined their side with a smile. “I don’t think it’ll be long before you can hit the targets perfectly without much trouble.”

The girl looked back at the rifle silently, still feeling that the weapon was still too heavy for her to handle. Could she really be better when she was still struggling to hold it?

Her gaze wandered around the range, where other soldiers were doing their target practice as well. As if they knew she was looking at them, some of them who were waiting for their turn had looked back. The look on their eyes almost told her that she was a failure in her well-known family and that she didn’t belong there. Their stares felt so unsettling for her that she was trying to fight back the urge to run away from the area, but her mother’s warm hand had erased that negativity.

“It’s okay, dear,” her mother gave her a loving smile as she embraced her before putting her back on the floor. “There’s always a next time and you could try again.”

But there never was a next time.

The young girl had to watch as her entire family were shot down helplessly by an unknown group of assailants. Her parents had carried her sleepy self through the burning house with her father being constantly ready with his rifle to shoot down anyone who dared to step any closer to them. It was an attack right in the middle of the night, where most of the residents of her family mansion were either away or fast asleep.

When the chaos around her was made clearer by the number of corpses lying around in the hall she and her parents were hiding, she couldn’t hold back her cries. She was afraid of what was going to happen to her and her parents. She didn’t know what was going on and why people attacked her family.

“How low can the snipers of the Alencon family can go from here, I wonder…”

It was the voice of a man, who made himself known to the surviving family of three. He had a mask covering his entire face, leaving the blood red eyes reflected by the burning flames in the room. He had a pair of guns in his hands, and a quick shot aimed at the door behind the three had startled the girl as she cried even more.

“You…” Ciel’s father aimed his rifle at the man as he growled angrily. “Are you with the group who attacked the Viscontis a few days back?”

The man fearlessly walked closer with the guns hanging from his hands. “What if I say that we are? Are you just going to get rid of me like you’ve got rid of your enemies? Or do you even know who your true enemies are?”

“What is this nonsense?!” Ciel’s mother shrieked as she threw whatever shape of debris she could reach, though the projectile could easily be avoided and countered by a shot from one of his guns.

Her father had fired a shot as well to immobilize one of his hands before taking a shot intended for his family. The man’s gun fell as he clutched his shot arm in pain, cursing at the fallen body of his shooter, accidentally kicking the gun from his range and towards the young girl.

Ciel shakily picked up the gun as tears were streaming down her face, both from the fear and from the sudden loss of her father. Her mother had grabbed her protectively when the man had noticed them, glaring angrily at the two females as he aimed his remaining gun at them.

The hold her mother had around her had tightened as she brushed away the silver hair away from her ear. “It’s going to be fine, Ciel… Just pull the trigger and do it like your father did… Aim for his hand and he couldn’t attack us…”

“Y-Yes…” she responded with a whisper as she tried fighting back the fear she had within her.

Her hands were trembling badly as she was aiming, just as the man was aiming herself. She braced herself for the impact of the bullet and closed her eyes as she shot, with white blinding light being one of the things she saw last before her consciousness faded. That and a broken vase behind the man was the last thing she remembered before the light from an explosion had taken swallowed everything.

Her shot had missed again and she had failed her parents.

* * *

The sound of a shot rung through the quiet shooting range, with the bullet landing just a few millimeters away from the middle of the target. The shooter, a silver-haired girl in her early teenage years, winced as she saw her result, before a hard hit sent her to the ground.

“A poor shot! Try again!”

She looked up at the man in green standing above her as tears started welling up in her eyes. She tried closing her eyes as she stood up to prevent it from dripping off her face, only to have her roughly being grabbed and lifted up by the collar.

“This is not the time for crying, Cadet!” the man roughly released his grip on her uniform, making her hit the wall behind her. “Do it right this time or take your punishment for your incompetence!”

She nodded quietly, hanging her head low, as she responded with a shaky whisper, “Yes… Sir…”

The teenage girl steadied her shooting stance before she took a quick glance to her right side as she wasn’t left alone with her strict mentor. There was a quick blur of red and blonde hair as she had to get her focus back on the target in front. She had to be perfect in what she did. She couldn’t afford to lose anyone else because of her failures.

Another hit connected with her back once more and the pain had caused her to lose focus on her aim.

“Do not let the emotions control you! Emotions have no place in the battlefield! Save it for the people who mourned the dead bodies of those you failed to save!”

She had to focus. She couldn’t let her emotions leak out no matter what. Her emotions weren’t helping her get better… no, perfect her abilities as a soldier. Perfection was a must and anything imperfect could only be considered a failure. Emotions would only stain the perfection she would be seeking.

Perfection. No emotions. Superiors knew everything. Orders meant everything. Those were the things she had been taught for as long as she could remember. Those were the only things which defined an elite soldier she was meant to be.

* * *

Perfection. It was among the important things she was taught for all those years. She couldn’t deny it after seeing for herself that her missed shot had cost her parents’ lives. Emotions had no place in the battlefield as they would only get in the way of one’s true skill. She had thrown anything she deemed unnecessary in war that she managed to achieve the things that many people her age couldn’t.

Yet, the strict lectures she had been through were quickly thorn down by a single person whom she had always regarded as the least serious and least competent of the team. His failed attempts to his eventual success in landing a single shot perfectly on target had reminded her of her own struggles while being under the constant watch of her strict mentors.

For the first time in years, she felt envy towards him as he could openly be proud and happy for what he had accomplished. She had subconsciously encouraged him to shoot better and it was a factor in his small achievement. If her mentors had told her that emotions had no role in the development of one’s skill, then what about his success?

It wasn’t just about his small and seemingly insignificant accomplishment. She had never once thought back about the happier times of her childhood before she met him and the entire Unit Zero. When he was around talking and asking about personal things to her, a part of her just wanted to push him away so that she wouldn’t lose the skills she had worked for all those years. Another part of her was crying out to connect with others, despite having vowed herself that she didn’t want to have any emotional connection towards other people.

She had asked him the reason why he joined the army in the first place, though it was more like she was trying to ask herself. The only thing she had in mind for her reason was simply because she was put there and she was meant to be there in the first place. A look into her past that he had unknowingly unlocked had given her an insight of her reason for being there.

It was just like his own reason and it was most likely her late parents’ wishes as well.

She just wanted to protect people the way her parents had, especially when she had already lost her own parents. He had unintentionally light the path she had long left and she had just pushed him away by branding him the imperfect.

The rain had stopped as the vice captain looked up at the night sky. The deadline for the basic training final report was only a few hours, or perhaps minutes away, and she had to act fast to make a lot of quick revisions.

* * *

The red-haired doctor was looking at the training reports as she stood by the smoking general in his office. A frown came over to her face as she came across the report for Unit Zero, which was marked as bad progress despite having far better results compared to the other units. She had approved of the promotions despite the bad marks their vice captain had given them, but she couldn’t do anything about the worst progression which had cost the promotion proposal she had given the general to be revoked.

Leah was about to confront the general himself as she had the chance to do so before the deadline, until she was interrupted with a knock on the door.

“This… this is Corporal Alencon…” There was a short pause before she continued, “I… have a revision for the progress report I submitted earlier…”

Grem let out an annoyed sigh as smoke came out from his mouth. “Fine, just come in.”

Ciel made herself into the office and gave him a salute, but she was still slightly panting when she walked over to the general’s desk and put down the folder she was carrying. “This will be the final report for the basic training Unit Zero has been through. I request to reconsider the promotion policy in accordance to this newly revised report.”

“This is already beyond my working hours,” the general responded in annoyance before he took the folder and handed it to the doctor standing beside him. “Handle this for me, Leah. I’m not in the mood for any silly revisions or corrections for the promotion.”

Leah looked back and forth between the report and the vice captain before she took the folder and opened it. Much to her surprise, the contents of the report was far more detailed than the previous one she saw and the progress marks were much better than she saw previously. Rather than seeing comments about improving pretty much everything unnecessarily, every positive and negative aspects were written in detail along with the final scoring for each team member.

She looked back at Ciel, who had her head down as if she was begging for the approval of the new report.

The doctor didn’t say anything and continued with her examination of the report and saw that her final scores for everyone were good enough to grant promotions to the three new cadets and a potential for a promotion for the experienced cadet. It had gone as she had wished to be, even though she was curious to find out the reason for the last minute revision.

“I approve the new report, General,” Leah spoke confidently as she closed the folder and handed it back to the general. “Should we call Cadet Kamui here for the official promotion?”

Grem gave her an annoyed look as inhaled his cigarette before leaning back on his chair, “Fine, just do what you want!”

“In that case, I shall−”

“I…” Ciel interrupted just as Leah was about to leave the office, “I… shall bring him here, if I may.”

The confused look on the doctor’s face disappeared once she heard her suggestion as she smiled at the vice captain. Perhaps she had found the answer to her curiosity earlier and probably, the true side of Ciel herself which she had been forced to suppress.

“Yes. Please call him here, Ciel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapters might start to take longer times to upload as I'll start working again tomorrow after the fake week off and that I'll mostly be either super busy or super tired. See you guys soon!


	6. The Sudden Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've run out of things to put here, so here's my lazy attempt by copying the notes from my FFN side:
> 
> I just want to say... It feels good to be back even for a couple of days in the weekend! I managed to squeeze in some time to edit the chapter while being chased by stupid project deadlines, so here it is!

It was still very early in the morning with the foggy atmosphere still surrounding the Susano’o military base. The sun was barely up, but the newly-promoted cadets were already up and began their first day of advanced training. With their yells echoing throughout the base, the office area was also bustling with activities as the officers were pacing back and forth.

They weren’t busy with their regular activities, though, as the air was a lot more tense than usual. The same atmosphere could be applied in the general’s office as the general’s ashtray held far less ash compared to other days at the same time. The red-haired doctor looked anxious as she saw how her superior was intensely staring at the telegram he was holding.

The moment he looked up at his subordinate, there was an unpleasant look in his eyes.

“Tell me, Doctor,” Grem slammed the telegram on his desk, “who is the stupid intel giving us false information about the three-month resolution of Caligula Nation’s natural disaster?”

From a single look on the general’s face, Leah could tell that he wasn’t happy with the news. While she couldn’t blame him for being angry about a possible misinformation, she couldn’t give him a definite answer as she wasn’t sure of the specific person who did the job in the first place. She did as she was told and she assigned the information gathering job to the whole Intelligence Unit.

“If you’re not going to answer, then get the head of the Operations Unit to my office!” the general had slammed his fist on his desk in anger before he turned his chair around to the side and started lighting a cigarette.

The doctor couldn’t really defy his orders due to his higher position compared to her, but she didn’t like the idea of having someone else being involved when the person herself most likely didn’t know anything. Fran was still new and lacking experience, but she had to end up leading her own unit due to the lack of discipline from the former unit captains.

She had no choice other than to obey and hope that she wasn’t going to put the young cadet into trouble.

“Yes, Sir…”

* * *

The sky was clear as the sun was slowly rising to change the day from the morning to midday. The sky looked peaceful without the migrating birds despite being the migration season. Other than being decorated by the few white clouds, the sky looked empty and void of life.

What the sky looked like didn’t matter to Unit Zero as their four members were being led by their captain to the facility owned by the country’s air force. A few fighter aircraft were lined up on the airfield with Romeo being the one to mention each of the craft’s different histories as Gil was too busy admiring the mechanical functions of each model.

The different subject of admiration between Romeo for his interest in the manufacture history and Gil’s interest in the functionality and weaponry of the aircraft had turned the short tour of knowledge into another argument. Julius was hearing the development of the conversation as he led the way, sighing as the argument sparked behind him.

While the blond and the dark brunette were too busy with their heated argument, Nana was also trying to find someone to talk to out of boredom as Hiro was also too busy smiling while spacing out. She had tried poking him on the shoulders and pulling on his sleeves, but he ignored her completely as he kept on walking with a grin on his face. Waving her hand in front of his face or luring him with food had no effect as well, until an idea struck her.

“Oh, hello, Vice Captain!” the chef said rather loudly and Hiro wasn’t the only one who heard it.

“Good morning, Vice Captain!” the brunette stopped for an energized salute as he faced the direction where he believed the vice captain would be.

Romeo and Gil had stopped arguing as well and saluted, ignoring the discomfort of being too close to each other. “Good morning, Vice Captain!”

Julius had heard the greeting as well, though he was fully aware of both the situation and his subordinate’s presence. He had turned around and sighed the moment he saw three of his team members saluting at no one and the chuckling Nana from the three’s unawareness of the missing vice captain. The loudness of their voices had gained the attention of the air force members nearby as they were hiding their chuckles.

The dark brunette was the first one to notice the lack of response and saw that he was saluting at absolutely no one. “H-Hey! I seriously thought that she was standing right there and glaring at us for our ignorance!”

“But she is−” Romeo was about to argue about the dark brunette’s lack of discipline, until he realized that Ciel wasn’t even present with them, “Oh…”

Hiro was still in a saluting position with his smile unwavering as he was completely obvious to his surroundings. Romeo had to lightly slap his hand to snap the brunette back to reality, though the missing vice captain didn’t bother him. He was still in a good mood despite the silly situation Nana had put them in, though the other three knew very well the reason for his cheery mood.

“Well, I guess someone’s happy with his promotion,” Gil commented with a chuckle.

The blond captain cleared his throat to regain his team’s attention, seeing as they were quick to be in a less serious mood. “Everyone, I want you to wait around here for a moment. As the vice captain has some urgent business to take care of until later today, I need to finish some paperwork before you can all start with your training.”

“Yes Sir!”

Julius nodded in response to the four’s salute gesture before he headed away and towards the heavily-guarded building a few meters away from the group. Once he had entered, the group had taken the time to look around the base, with the exception of Gil as the dark brunette had the absolute need to inspect the aircraft from a much closer distance.

* * *

The noises of about twenty generals and high-ranked officers talking to each other echoed within the small meeting room. A map showing the country’s land borders were spread out on the board in front of them, with red markings in the form of arrows and circles drawn all over it. The silver hair the vice captain of Unit Zero stood out among the meeting participants as she calmly stood next to the map.

“What are your thoughts of the situation, Corporal?” one of the generals asked. “The original plan was to effectively spend the three months to train our new recruits with your unit as the main focus, but the situation has changed for the worse.”

Ciel gave the man a light nod, letting him know that she could understand the concern in his statement. She looked back at the map and put her finger over the mountain range area of the map.

“For the time being, this mountain range will be our final defensive line to try and buy some time for the war logistics to be ready,” her finger moved to the upper area of the map, showing the green forest area. “This forest is ideal for hidden attacks and setting up traps as the unfamiliar rough terrain will prove to be a hindrance. We can deploy a few snipers who are familiar with the forest’s layout to shoot and cut down some of the enemy forces once they reach this forest. While a few of them are setting up the traps, the other deployed snipers should be on standby for any surprise attacks.”

The man nodded in understanding, with a few others agreeing with the plan. Some had different things in mind, knowing the title she currently had.

“What about your so-called elite team?” another one of the generals asked with a hint of arrogance in his voice. “We’re already lacking manpower from the lack of interest from the younger generation to join our military ranks, so why should we risk our already few numbers when we can let a small group of them handle basically everything?”

Ciel was taken aback by the sudden question. “That’s…” she wasn’t sure how to answer as the expectant look coming from him and several others wanted to say everything was ready, even if she could say herself that the team needed a little more time to train. “They… it’s best if you would give us some more time to train them−”

“Time is what we don’t have!” the general responded angrily before slamming the desk in front of him as he stood up. “Your team is being led by the next generations of the infamous Visconti and Alencon families! The two elite military families! Don’t tell me that this generation is just a bunch of losers!”

“That’s quite enough,” Leah was the next one to stand up and her stern voice had silenced the murmurs in the room. “We’re very much aware of the time constraint, but fighting a war without a good strategy is no different than asking our loyal soldiers to charge blindly into their deaths. If we can cut down the number of the enemy forces while buying some time to prepare everything, I don’t see the reason not to go with this plan.”

The general grunted in annoyance before he started walking towards the door. “This is why I don’t trust the younger generation to take care of things around here,” his sharp gaze went over to the vice captain as she stood still while holding her arm, “especially young and inexperienced girls like her.”

The general left the meeting room, followed by a few others who had originally disagreed to her plan, leaving less than half of the original participants in the room. Ciel was left feeling clearly disappointed as she hung her head low, but it wasn’t the end of the insult for her. The meeting room’s atmosphere was still tense along with the murmurs and unpleasant stares of the other generals drowning down the doctor’s effort to try and comfort the distraught vice captain from her seat.

“The generals present in this room have come to a conclusion,” one of the remaining generals said and stood up as the voices in the room died down. “We will go with the original plan of an ambush, led by the veteran soldiers. This will be the safest option according to the information regarding the enemy’s manpower rather than risking the new recruits who haven’t completed their training as of today.”

The meeting was quickly concluded as there were no objections to the plan and the generals in the room slowly left to return to their duties, leaving the only two women of the participants in the meeting room.

Ciel hadn’t moved from her spot when Leah approached her and refused to look up when she put a comforting hand over her shoulder. “It’s okay. Your late mother went through the same struggle as well due to the gender discrimination within the army, but she could prove that even a woman, a mother, could be better than the men here.”

The vice captain gave her a light nod before taking a deep breath to calm herself down. It still felt uneasy for her to be treated differently, but it made her a little better knowing that all hope wasn’t lost.

“I’ll tell General Grem about the meeting’s result,” Leah told her calmly. “You can head for the air force’s base to oversee your team’s next training.”

Ciel agreed without a second thought, knowing that she couldn’t handle another verbal strike in a single day as the general himself wouldn’t like the idea of the new plan. She gave the doctor a quick salute before she took off from the meeting room without another word.

* * *

“C-Come again?”

“Your next training is to fly a fighter aircraft,” Julius repeated calmly, though not without noticing the anxiety on the dark brunette standing in front of him. “Is something wrong, Private McLane?”

“N-Nothing! Nothing at all!” Gil gave the captain a quick answer, but the nervous expression he had on his face said otherwise.

The captain gave him another look before his gaze went over to the other members of his team as they had already worn their helmets without being told. Their instructors were already waiting by the jets they were going to use, with the dark brunette being the last one to get ready and walk over to his jet. He observed his team members as their instructors explained the basics actions they needed to perform before they took the seats on the back, letting the private cadets handle the controls at front seat.

It had him worry for a moment as his team members had to be put into practical test of controlling a fighter aircraft without any sort of simulations beforehand. The time constraint the generals had put on them left them with no choice but to take some risks, though he recalled how the training jets were equipped with some safety mechanisms in case something went wrong. Not that he wished to see the equipped safety measures to be used during his team’s flight test.

It was only moments later after the blond captain thought about the safety measures that his worst fear had almost occurred. The first jet piloted by Romeo had taken off into the sky for a few seconds only for the jet to spin around randomly from a failing the attempt to turn to the other direction. The spinning came into a stop soon, but the jet ended up being very high in the sky as it took a sharp turn to the ground for an unusually normal landing.

Nana was the next one to take the flight, which had gone smoothly enough for her first try in the air. He had assumed that Nana’s instructor had her move on to testing for basic maneuvers with the jet, seeing as her jet was tilting up and down. While her attempts to perform the aerial acrobatics didn’t go as well, it was enough for him to say that she could handle the fighter jets until he saw that she had landed before the landing gears were fully ready and her jet stopped on burning lane.

Gil’s first trial run went good enough despite the fact that he looked nervous as he boarded his jet. Compared to the previous two, he had flown his jet much at a much lower altitude and went on for a full loop above the base before landing back on the airfield. While nothing bad had happened with his flight, the way he piloted the jet would only make him an easy target for the enemy as it was too predictable.

The three of them had gathered back to where Julius were, watching as the last member of their team was taking his time before taking off in his jet. It was hard to see what was going on in the cockpit from the place where they were standing as they could only see the brunette looking at his surroundings before his jet started moving for a take off.

* * *

His hands went cold as he held on to the jet’s control while having foreign displays in front of him. He looked around nervously, seeing his teammates’ jets landing one by one after a few minutes of airborne. It was his turn to go next, though the instructions given to him had simply disappeared from his head the moment he saw the complicated displays.

“Hey, just take a deep breath and you’ll be fine,” the voice of his instructor came from the seat behind him. “And don’t you worry about falling and all that stuff. There’s always a backup plan from back here so it’s perfectly safe even if something goes wrong.”

It was probably his instructor’s attempt at trying to console him, though the mention of whatever backup plan they have. Did he have the face of someone who would fail at every first attempt on anything he did? He could’ve been a bit more annoyed under normal circumstances, though he was too nervous to complain.

“Just to be sure…” Hiro leaned back on his seat. “Corporal Fujiki, there really is something to help us when things go wrong, right?”

“There’s the eject button,” the instructor’s casual tone had the brunette turn to look at him. “And not like most of the soldiers here, I don’t really like being called by my rank. Just call me Kota and I’m totally okay with that.”

Kota had given him a thumbs up and a smile, though it wasn’t making the brunette feel much better. If he could, he would avoid the need to be thrown out of the jet into the open space. He just needed to fly that jet and went back, so how come the control system was so overly complicated?

Hiro took another deep breath before he prepared his jet for a take off. As the altitude of his jet was rising, the view of the airfield and the jets in front of him was replaced by the white clouds in the blue sky. The light tremors from the jet’s friction with the wind slowly died down and the brunette was finally able to relax a bit. It was a lot smoother than he had expected it to be.

“Hey, that was pretty good for your first time,” the instructor sounded a little surprised, though the brunette himself was just as surprised. “How about you try and fly around for a bit? You’ll need to move around and pretty much dominate the skies if you want an advantage against the enemy’s jets.”

The younger cadet gave him a nod, despite the height of his seat blocking Kota from seeing him. He slowly moved the jet to turn to the side with a light whirring sound as it turned. The tension and nervousness he had before taking off slowly faded as he started feeling comfortable with the controls. It was starting to feel like he was born to be in control of the airspace and that the sky was his second home.

He was taught moments ago that the domination of the skies is the key to gain the advantage over the enemy. It wasn’t just the skies, as he could vaguely recall the lessons he had purposely slept through about gaining control over the battle. Strength and skill were the factors he could try and master, seeing as he was given another chance to try and start over. He wouldn’t waste his second chance for unnecessary things as he probably couldn’t have a third one if he had messed up.

Now that he was starting to get used to the controls, there was a trick that he had been dying to try. He felt like his progress with the flight so far was satisfying enough that even if he had failed his next attempt, he would probably be excused. There was also the eject button his instructor mentioned in case something went wrong, which was another reason for him to play by the risk and try it himself.

He piloted the jet to move faster than before, which was something that didn’t go unnoticed by Kota, “H-Hey, you’re going a little too fast there, buddy…”

Hiro had completely ignored him as he picked up the pace. He had the nose of the jet tilted upwards and the movement had caused panic from the back seat. He felt that nothing had gone wrong so far that he would continue on tilting the jet as he tried moving forward, ignoring the pleas coming from his own instructor to stop and land.

* * *

The four members of Unit Zero were watching the entire scene, with Gil being the first one to point out something unusual with the jet’s movement.

“H-Hey, what going on up there?!” the dark brunette asked in a slight panic. “Was he trying to do something stupid with that thing?”

Romeo and Nana looked worried as they watched the jet tilting to the position that it was almost perpendicular to the ground with the nose pointing upwards. The captain looked calmer as he knew what was going on and rather than worry, he felt proud to see a sight that was rare in a cadet’s first jet flight.

“Watch closely, cadets!” Julius spoke up loudly as he looked up at the sky with a proud smile. “Despite being his first flight in a fighter jet, Private Hiro Kamui had almost successfully performed a maneuver that not many experienced pilots can perform.”

The worry had slowly turned into an awe from the captain’s declaration of their teammate’s accomplishment with the jet. Once the jet had returned to its initial orientation, it started moving in a much faster speed as it flew a bit lower for a moment. The jet took a sharp turn towards the airfield’s direction, but soon gained altitude once more and flew in the sky as if it was performing some sort of a dance.

The loud cheering accompanied the jet’s movement and the commotion had gained the attention of the other cadets nearby as well. A small crowd soon gathered, though they didn’t get in the way as the team’s vice captain soon arrived and was confused with the sudden commotion.

She looked up in the sky, right on the direction where the crowd was looking at. She could see a jet flying through the sky, performing many aerial tricks that she knew to be common in competitions. What made her wonder was how it happened as she couldn’t recall any competitions being held due to the tensions from international conflicts.

Ciel’s presence wasn’t made known until the blond cadet noticed the extra personal just outside the crowd, “V-Vice Captain!”

Romeo was quick to give her a salute before poking his two teammates to notice the presence of their other team leader. Gil wasn’t trying to as he had been fooled just a while ago, until he saw the person himself and gave her the salute. Nana had copied the gesture as well and seeing that three of his members were shortly distracted by the trick show, Julius had taken notice the vice captain’s presence as well.

“If you’re already present here, then I assume that the meeting was finished already…?” the blond captain asked, not expecting to see her already.

Ciel responded with a quick salute, “Yes. Doctor Leah has taken care of the meeting result with General Grem, so I can come here a little earlier than scheduled,” She looked up and saw the jet flying through the sky and was followed by excited cheers as it passed by their heads. “Is there an aircraft competition today?”

“No,” Julius gave her a quick reply before looking back up as the jet was flying lower to prepare for landing. “That was none other than one of our own, performing many advanced tricks and maneuvers in his very first flight.”

The vice captain looked back to her team members, who had smiles on their faces as they saw the jet landing to reveal the two pilots inside the jet. One of them had suddenly feel to his knees while the other one proudly waved his hands towards the group. The brown hair coming out of the safety helmet had surprised her as it was only yesterday that he almost failed to be promoted. She had seen a little of the performance herself that she couldn’t say it was just an act, but it was hard to believe for someone to be able to perform advanced techniques in his first try.

Ciel watched as Hiro held his helmet by his side while walking towards the group with the cheering crowd surrounding him. He stopped in front of the captain for a salute before he let out a proud smile. She could remember that the cheers he got from the other cadets previously were out of mockery from his failures, but it had quickly turned into proud cheers. Was this the kind of change the captain mentioned to her before?

She continued watching him as Julius was giving him lectures about the risky maneuvers, until the cadet himself turned to look at her. He gave her the usual salute, but he still had the proud smile on his face, “Good day, Vice Captain! Did you finish your business early to see me train?”

His action still hadn’t changed much, though she wasn’t entirely in the mood for a lecture. Or probably, she didn’t even have any plans on trying to lecture him anymore. Her morning wasn’t entirely pleasant with the important tactical meeting and that a quick rest would be good enough, but her presence was still needed to observe the team’s training progress. At the very least, his good progress had lifted some burden off her shoulders that she ended up struggling not to smile in response.

The sound of Julius clearing his throat had gained the team’s attention once more, “You can all go back to the base and have your lunch break. I still have a few things to take care of beforehand.”

“Yes Sir!”

It was a unified response from the team before the captain walked away with a satisfied feeling, seeing as his team was making a much better progress. His tracks came to a stop as the vice captain stood silently in front of him to give him a folder of documents. He took it in his hands, knowing that it was most likely her report for the meeting she attended, but was surprised to see her bowing down to him instead of the usual salute gesture.

“The original plan was rejected. Doctor Leah had taken over my duty of telling this result to General Grem and sent me here to continue observing Unit Zero’s training progress.”

Julius looked at her closely as she stood back moments later with a slight hint of disappointment on her face and gave her a nod, “Understood. I’ll handle the rest, so you can have your well-earned rest with the rest of the team… although…” He looked over at his team members as they were starting to leave the area. “Can you please call Private Leoni here? I have something important to discuss with him.”

“Yes Sir,” Ciel didn’t object nor question the plan he had in mind with the blond cadet and went over to the leaving group.

The group had noticed the incoming footsteps as the vice captain approached them and the brunette was quick to act, “Are you joining us for lunch, Vice Captain?”

The question came out with her already expecting it, though she couldn’t think of a reason for her to decline. For whatever reason she would even decline, she still had something more important than her excuses of staying away from her team members.

“The captain requests for your presence, Private Leoni,” she said in her usual stoic expression. “He has something important to discuss with you.”

Romeo looked at his fellow teammates in disappointment as he was looking forward to hanging out with them, “Sorry guys, I guess I’m needed somewhere for today. But hey, at least Vice Captain is finally joining you guys for lunch today!”

The blond quickly sped away towards Julius, who was already waiting for him. Despite the vice captain herself never planning on joining the group, she had no intention of excusing herself from them. When she looked back at the group, she was greeted by the expectant faces of the remaining three.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s just go back and have our nice lunch!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to admit, I wasn't sure at first what kind of specialty I was going to give Hiro until an idea struck me after watching yet another war-themed movie. I was like, 'Hey, how about making him a fighter pilot? That'll make things a little easier to handle later on'. Well, I'm still not sure how 'easy' I'll handle the later chapters but hey, it kinda works so far!
> 
> The next chapter is currently in progress and I can't promise you an upload date yet, but I'll let you guys know that the story is still well and alive. Thanks for reading and I hope you guys have a good weekend!


	7. Lies and Facade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's yet another effect of my fatigue and laziness by copying the notes from my FFN:
> 
> It's just one week and this story has yet another update?! Are we dreaming or what? Well, I don't think so... The chapter could come out a bit earlier if it wasn't for the yet another inhuman project deadlines and endless crappy revisions!

“Hey, you sleeping at this time of the day?”

He heard a familiar voice coming from above him, bringing him back from the land of slumber. The smirk on his greenish brown-haired friend was visible despite the shade from the lamp right above his head. When his unwanted wake-up alarm had left, he stretched out his arms as he sat up on the old couch he had slept on.

“You might want to wipe that drool off your face before it drops into one of the important parts, Gil.”

A snicker came from the other side of the room, where two brunettes were digging through various parts. He quickly wiped his mouth as he was planning on getting back to work with them, only for the chuckles to grow into a laugh. The parts the younger brunette was holding fell into the floor with loud clanging sounds before he rolled on the floor from the laughter.

“What did you this time, Teru?” he glared at the laughing young man before he had a mirror shoved on his face. A look of surprise came over him as he saw that his face was smeared with oil on the spot where he had wiped himself. “Seriously? You need to keep your kid brother on a leash, Haru!”

Haru slid the mirror away to reveal his face on the other side of the mirror with a smirk. “It’s not his fault that you’re too trusting, Gil. That’s just going to get you in trouble if you’re going to be one of the military engineers.”

“Who even told you that I was gonna go anyway?” Gil responded in annoyance, knowing that he hadn’t told anyone about the secret. “Did you dig into my drawer?”

Haru had given him a look before he pointed at him using the wrench he was holding. When the dark brunette paid more attention to the angle his friend was pointing at, he was referring to the presence behind him. When he turned around, a woman with long brown hair was standing there with an envelope in her hand.

“I have been wondering when you’re going to tell us about this application, Gil,” she handed him the envelope with a frown before she walked over to Haru’s side. “While I know that our workshop doesn’t pay you well most of the time−”

“T-That’s not−” the dark brunette quickly interrupted, but stopped when he had three pairs of eyes on him and sighed loudly. “Look, didn’t Haru mention something about sending Teru to good technical school a while ago?”

It was Teru’s turn to look surprised and looked over to his brother, “Wait, really? I though that we don’t have the money to even get the entrance application!”

The older brother let out a sigh before he looked back at Gil as his own secret had been blown. He went over to his side, patting the dark brunette’s shoulder, before forcing him to turn the other direction as something big covered under a cloth was put. “Look man, I appreciate the help with Teru’s case, but I really need you to work on that one because I’m not good at tinkering with military stuff.”

“Fine,” Gil fixed his hat before a smirk went formed on his face as he whispered to his friend, “And yeah, I can figure out what you’re actually good at. It’s not that hard to guess anyway.”

Haru let out a chuckle as he walked back towards the mess of metal parts he and his brother were digging through. “Good. Once you’re done with that stuff, I’ll teach you how to get the hearts of those lovely ladies in blue−”

“I’m not the one to hit on girls anywhere like you, Haru,” the dark brunette interrupted, looking slightly annoyed as he uncovered the machinery hidden on his side of the workshop. “Just… let me work on this thing in peace. If this belongs to the country’s military, then I don’t want to mess around and blow it up.”

There wasn’t any meaningful response coming from Haru’s side of the room other than the sound of clanging metals and Gil was finally left to focus on his own share of work. He rubbed the dust covering the top of the machinery, which looked more like an old missile rather than a regular machine. Leftover yellow radioactive sign came into sight, which had surprised him, but he was more surprised when the sign was suddenly covered with a cup of coffee.

He turned to the person who had offered him the drink, seeing the smiling face of the brunette. “Thanks Kate. You don’t really have to, you know, and I can make my own drink.”

“It’s fine, Gil. I’m just doing what I can to help out my fiance’s business and my future brother-in-law too,” she took a few steps away from him, but stopped with her back turned to the dark brunette. “You know, you should take Haru’s advice and think about starting a family of your own too.”

The engineer took a sip of his coffee and let out a sigh, “Not you too…”

“I appreciate the help you’re doing for us, Gil, but you know that we’ll also be happy if you decide to go out and start your own life,” Kate gave him another smile before he went over to Haru’s side as she tried to clean up the mess he and Teru had made on the floor.

The male brunette had been watching and listening through the conversation as he was screwing on a part as he looked at Gil and commented in a playful tone, “Get any girl you want, but my future wife is off-limits!”

“H-Hey! I wasn’t trying to…” Gil’s argument was met with the laughter of the other three and seeing as he had fallen for a joke, he growled in annoyance and decided to go back to his work. “Whatever…”

The dark brunette continued his inspection of the machine, while stealing glances at the three. He had tried to change topics when the one about starting his own family came up, but he could admit that a family of his own might’ve been nice. He had been with Haru’s family for many years that he felt like the male brunette and his younger brother were his own brothers.

Haru had everything he didn’t have and that had made him a bit envious. He wasn’t planning on telling anyone about it though, but perhaps the single life with non-biological brothers he had wasn’t so bad.

He wanted that kind of life to last longer, though the conflicts and so-called accidents didn’t allow him to have that kind of life any longer.

* * *

“Gil, are you still there?”

His vision of his life years in the past faded and was replaced by the curious looks of the three younger cadets. The sound of people talking in the background made him realize that he must have been zoning out during lunch. He tried ignoring the stares his teammates were giving him, until he looked down at his tray and the messy blob he didn’t recall having.

“What the heck is this thing?!” the dark brunette asked as he sunk his fork into the mess, which felt soft and creamy. “Is this supposed to be cake or something?”

The eyes went over to Nana as she proudly clasped her hands together, “Yes! It’s kinda experimental but I’m trying to make a cake that tastes like an oden sandwich!”

“Taste like what now?” Romeo looked at his friend in surprise before his curiosity took over that despite Gil’s protests, he had dug his own fork into the messy cake for a bite. “It’s weird for a cake but hey, this isn’t so bad!”

“Hey, let me try too!”

The older cadet sighed in annoyance as his lunch was being poked around by the two, not noticing the arrival of another member of their team.

“Eat your own food, Cadets!” the vice captain scolded sternly without looking at the messy tray for a moment as she took a seat next to Nana. “Should I also remind you to sit down as well while you are eating your lunch?”

Romeo and Hiro looked back at the unexpected newcomer, giving her a salute with traces of the cake around their mouths. Three had settled down on their own seats, though it wasn’t a quiet lunch as various topics came up while they were eating. There was more minor bickering between the blond and the dark brunette, though it was nothing hard enough for the vice captain herself to handle.

The lunchtime felt longer than usual for reasons unknown to the cadets, though it didn’t bother most of the members of Unit Zero. The vice captain was the first one to excuse herself and leave as she was finished, while the rest of them had stayed to talk even after they had finished their meals. As Hiro was showing the group about his recent sketches, Gil’s eyes scanned around the mess hall and saw fewer people in the room.

The dark brunette could see some soldiers talking in whispers and he could guess that they were talking about his team due to the problems they often caused yet still getting more appreciation compared to most soldiers. He didn’t care about what people thought about them as he had no intention of sticking around longer that he wanted. He just needed to get his stuff done and left the military for good, until he felt like he had another reason to stay.

Gil looked back at the group of three as they were still talking about things that he couldn’t catch on. He had initially thought of them as nothing but troublemakers who didn’t know anything about the risks of being a soldier. As time went on, he felt like he was seeing his late friends in them that he decided to push away his intentions of vengeance for a moment. At the same time, he didn’t want to be too involved in them to save him from the pain of losing the ones he cared for all over again.

His gaze was fixed on the three until the blond decided to stand up despite the protests coming from both Hiro and Nana.

“Sorry guys, but the captain really needs me in his office right now,” the dark brunette could tell that the blond didn’t want to go just yet, but he had a reason that he absolutely had to go.

He watched as Romeo left the area, noticing that the blond wasn’t acting like himself lately. His change in attitude started after he returned on his own on the evening of the test flight a few days before, making him skip his afternoon classes. While his relationship with Romeo wasn’t the best one, it was noticeable enough to see that his usual loudness had toned down and that he was a little more distant from the others.

Romeo’s problem wasn’t his own problem, but he couldn’t help but feel a little suspicious of him. The dark brunette had told himself often that the blond wasn’t a bad person just as he thought about the others to be good people. The tension in the air for the past few days didn’t help him shrug off his negative thoughts and he just had to follow him and see what the blond was up to.

Gil rose from his seat abruptly, startling the two younger cadets left by the table. “H-Hey, what’s up Gil?”

The dark brunette played with his hat, tilting it slightly to the side as he glanced back at the younger brunette, “Sorry, gotta go. I need to do something else today.”

He could hear the chef questioning his unusual busy schedule as he walked away, heading out of the mess hall. His eyes scanned the barren fields of the base looking for the blond before spotting him in the distance as he was about to enter the office building. He lowered his hat as he hung his head low while walking quickly towards the office building as well.

The cadet didn’t take the time to think as he went into the building and was greeted by the uniformed officers walking from one door to another. He wasn’t a fan of noisy and busy areas like the office building, but he felt like the office was a lot busier than he remembered. The unusual situation had brought up more suspicions within him as he tried walking through the corridors and headed for his team captain’s office.

Gil’s steps came into a stop when one of the other cadets passed by his side as he was talking to himself. The dark brunette watched as he went into one of the rooms with wide eyes as he was wondering if his ears were playing tricks on him.

“Caligula Nation…?” he whispered to himself. “That’s mine and Kate’s…”

A strong force had suddenly knocked Gil from the side and before he could have the chance to yell at them to watch where they were going, the person had disappeared into another door. He knew that he would be getting in the way of many people when he stood there, but he just wanted to know what was going on with his homeland more than his early suspicion of Romeo’s actions.

“Oh, it’s rare to see you here, Private McLane.”

Gil turned around from hearing the familiar voice, seeing that the red-haired doctor was standing behind him, “D-Doctor Leah!” he quickly gave her a salute. “I… uh… I was just looking for Captain Visconti.”

“Is that so…?” Leah didn’t sound too certain as she asked. “I don’t recall him calling for anyone else other than Private Leoni…”

Her statement had confirmed that Romeo wasn’t making an excuse to leave the group. While he had nothing against the blond, it never crossed his mind that the cadet a few years his junior would suddenly become the captain’s favorite. He wasn’t jealous though, but it had nurtured the growing suspicions he had towards the army.

“I have some logistics-related… stuff I want to discuss with him,” Gil gave her another salute as he slammed his foot down. “I’ll be on my way to his office, Ma’am!”

The dark brunette quickly left the scene before she could question him further, but as the office area was bustling with activities, he knew that the doctor couldn’t just go out of her way to pry into his business.

Gil had to dodge a few officers and soldiers passing by the corridor before he could make it to Julius’ office. He didn’t plan on barging in to find out what was going on, so he could only hope that the captain’s office walls and door were thin enough for him to hear whatever conversation happening inside. He looked around and saw that everyone else was too distracted to see him hanging around in front of the captain’s office for no important reason.

It was faint, but he could hear Romeo’s voice coming from inside. It wasn’t clear enough what they were talking about, but he could hear a few terms that he could try putting together to figure out what the topic of the conversation was. There was something about infiltration and hacking, which were the two words that he didn’t expect to come out, and a name which sounded familiar to him.

“Rachel… huh…?”

The dark brunette whispered to himself as he leaned on the door to try and listen more of the conversation, only for the door to open up. He quickly backed away and was about to leave the scene, but the one to come out of the office wasn’t someone who had superiority over him.

“Hey Gil, what are you doing out here?” Romeo looked at him in confusion without a hint of suspicion at him.

It was either that the blond wasn’t suspicious of him, or that he was good at hiding it well. Gil didn’t think through what could possibly be going on as he didn’t like being kept in the dark for no apparent reason.

“What were you talking about with Captain Visconti anyway?” he asked without hesitation. “You’ve been hanging out in his office for the past few days instead of your team, you know.”

Romeo looked like as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t have as the blond looked at him. If he came up with the excuse by saying that they weren’t in the right place for the conversation, the older cadet would be willing to drag him out of the building.

Gil expected some sort of resistance coming from him, but he was met with the blond’s defeated sigh.

“Okay, but can we go somewhere else that has fewer people passing by?” Romeo looked back at the lively corridor, prompting the older cadet to do so as well. “They’re probably busy with emergencies and stuff, but I don’t think I feel safe enough to talk about it here.”

The dark brunette let out an irritated sigh. He wasn’t planning on sparking another argument with him that he decided not to reject his suggestion. He followed Romeo out and towards the empty corner near the building. His irritation died down once he noticed that the blond was avoiding his eyes.

“I don’t want other people to know about it, but…” Romeo let out a sigh. “Well, the captain kinda figured out what I did back when I was still in the Intelligence Unit, but he wouldn’t tell the higher ups if I helped him out with some hacking and stuff…”

Gil kept on watching him as the blond lowered his head. He wasn’t the type to pry into another one’s business for most of the time, but all the mystery surrounding the military had bothered him too much. He had never heard about the bad blood between his and his old friend’s homelands, so the reason for the two countries to fight was left unknown to him. Or at least, he believed that it was hidden from him for a reason.

The dark brunette didn’t expect that he could hear some information from the blond himself, until he knew that Romeo had been a part of the Intelligence Unit. If he wanted to get his revenge, he would do whatever he took to get some intel on his old friends’ killers and their reasons.

The older cadet leaned against the outer wall of the office, letting himself be covered by the shade of the building. “Come on, just spit it out already.”

Romeo took a deep breath and made sure that there weren’t any other people nearby before he started his side of the story.

“I… I wasn’t really an officer in the Intelligence Unit…” the blond’s confession made Gil’s eyes widen in surprise. “I was only working as a cleaning service employee when my curiosity got me and I tried messing with the military database through one of the officers’ computer…”

“You hacked into a military database?!” Gil asked loudly. “And you did it because you were curious?!”

“Not so loud!” the blond tried keeping Gil’s voice down as he cautiously looked around for any other possible witnesses. “I did once, but I didn’t know what it was about until…”

The dark brunette saw Romeo looking back at the door leading to the building, giving him the hint that it had something to do with either their team captain or the whole military. He would’ve shrugged it off quickly if a familiar name hadn’t been mentioned earlier.

“I heard the name Rachel when you were talking with the captain,” Gil folded his arms as he looked at his junior impatiently. “Who is she and what’s the connection between your hacking attempt and her?”

The blond looked as if he didn’t want to say anything more, but he didn’t look like he had any other choice when the older cadet was more or less glaring down at him for more information.

“She… she was a scientist and a doctor for the military,” Romeo started hesitantly. “She was involved in various military projects with her sister, Doctor Leah, but her final and biggest project was the least recorded in the archives,” the blond looked away once more. “I got more curious when I found my name… and all of your names in it, so I volunteered for the cleaning calls in the archive rooms of the Intelligence Unit while learning how to hack from someone.”

The dark brunette wasn’t expecting to hear something which would involve him directly for a reason, but he had kept his surprise hidden well enough as he stood still in his place, “And Captain Visconti knew that you were digging through military secrets?”

“Yeah…” Romeo nodded slowly, directing his gaze at the ground in front of his feet. “He kinda figured out the same thing, so he asked me to dig deeper into this and promised to keep my name clean. I can’t say anything more than this, so yeah…”

The blond moved from his spot and took his first few steps away from the older cadet, but stopped when he heard Gil calling out to him, “You’re going on your next hacking mission now, huh?”

“I guess that’s not hard to tell anymore, huh…?” the blond responded as he forced a smile when he slightly looked back at the dark brunette. “I won’t be back until tonight, so… I guess I’ll see you later?”

Gil only responded with a nod and a hardened expression as he watched Romeo leave without exchanging more words. He wasn’t usually sensitive about how other people thought after what happened in the past, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something else the blond was leaving out. He would’ve pressed him more if it had something to do with him or his past, but he felt like the events surrounding the blond also had some sort of connection to Romeo’s personal life.

If it had nothing to do with him, then the dark brunette could only consider it not to be his problem anymore.

* * *

His vision was blurred from the clouds of smoke coming inside the building. From working with machines for as long as he could remember, he knew that small accidents could happen. Except, the size of the fire had given him the impression that it wasn’t just a small accident. Or rather, he believed that Haru and his brother were thorough in their work that it was almost impossible for even the smallest accident to occur.

The dark brunette looked around for anyone suspicious in the area, seeing as the best explanation for the incident was an arson. While he knew that his friend hadn’t got the cleanest record because of his history with sexual harassment, he couldn’t really think of a good enough reason for someone to burn down his workshop. None of the four of them recall having any enemies who hated them enough to hunt them down.

He had wanted more time to think about the possible reasons of the incident, but the sound of coughing from deeper inside the building had pushed all those thoughts away. He ignored the burning flames on the door as he kicked it open, only for some debris to fall around the doorway and blocked some part of the exit. A familiar hair color popped out of a burning pile of woods and metal planks and that was the first place he headed to.

“Haru!”

The person looked up to the newcomer, showing the dirt and bruises all over his face, “G-Gil…”

“Damn it, Haru!” Gil quickly removed the burning pile off his friend’s body, only to see a pool of blood under his body. “What… what the heck happened to you?!”

His older friend couldn’t move a muscle other than turning his head to face the distraught dark brunette, “Two… dressed military officers… Kate…”

“What happened to Kate?! And where’s Teru?!” the dark brunette turned Haru’s body despite hearing his friend’s pained groans. “Who did this to you?!”

The older brunette was gasping for air as blood was seeping out of the torn shirt he was wearing, “Kate… protected me… but she and Teru…”

“Which military? Ours?!” Gil asked in desperation, even as he could tell that his friend was having troubles trying to speak. “But why?! We’ve been doing their requests for machine repairs!”

Haru mustered all the strength he had left to firmly grab the dark brunette’s hand as he looked at Gil with the eyes which were slowly losing their spirit, “Our client… Rachel lady… is… both Susano’o and Caligula…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a loud clanging sound came from the other side of the workshop area that the dark brunette quickly caught on. He caught a glimpse of the blue military uniform of his country along with an unfamiliar person wearing a green military uniform sneaking out of the area. He wanted to chase them and question them, but he felt that he needed to take care of his gravely injured friend on his lap.

He looked back at Haru, who gave him one last smile and his so-called words of wisdom before everything went bright and scorching hot.

* * *

“There’s more to people than meets the eye, huh…” Gil whispered to himself as he lied down on the bed in the darkness of the night.

The newly-broken window up above had let the moonlight into their makeshift dorm, enabling him to see better without any need for flashlights.

The dark brunette looked at the lower bunk bed next to his, seeing the younger cadet sleeping with a goofy grin on his face. The expression he had on his face as he slept made it easy enough to tell what he was dreaming of, but he had no reason to bother him about it.

He moved closer to the edge of his bed and looked down to see the team captain sleeping on the lower bunk. The blond captain might’ve looked like he was sleeping, but he could wake up any time whenever he heard something off in the room. It wasn’t a surprise as he was a trained soldier and had far more experience than the dark brunette himself or any of his other teammates with the vice captain most likely being the only exception.

Most of the guys were present in the dorm, except for Romeo as he had never come back to the dorm after his encounter earlier in the day. He didn’t know why, but he felt like he needed to find the blond and drag him back to the dorm. It would spark another argument between them, yes, but he felt like he had to be in charge of his juniors when the team leaders wouldn’t do anything about it.

Gil went down from his upper bunk, hoping that the creaking sound the bunk bed made didn’t wake up the whole dorm residents. The unchanging expression on Hiro’s face told him that the younger brunette wasn’t bothered at all, but the rustling sounds from the captain’s side had given him the hint that the captain was aware of his presence off his bed.

“Go back to sleep, Private McLane,” Julius’ voice was as stern as ever without any hints of tiredness at all.

Gil ignored his orders and put on his purple jacket which had been hanging on his side of the bunk bed, “I just want some fresh air.”

The dark brunette didn’t stay around for long to wait for the captain’s response and headed out of the dorm.

The light from the crescent moon in the clear night sky illuminated the empty base as Gil came out of the building, looking around to see if the blond was hanging around somewhere. He expected him to be hanging around indoors to try and dig through classified military archives, until his gaze passed by a telephone box a distance away from the dorm building.

Romeo’s blond hair had stood out the most as he looked anxious talking on the phone, prompting the dark brunette to approach him. He wasn’t planning on eavesdropping and was going to just drag him back to the dorm, until a bit of his conversation was heard from outside.

“Yes, Auntie!” the blond responded loudly and sounded almost like he was desperate. “Don’t worry, I’ll send you the money once I get my−” he stopped in mid-sentence for a moment before letting out a sigh, “I can’t do that! That’s illegal!”

The conversation continued with Romeo trying to reason with the person on the other side of the phone. Gil was watching nearby, picking up some things that he didn’t expect about the blond even if knowing about his issues wasn’t a part of the original plan. Even so, knowing a little more about him that the blond himself wouldn’t tell the others about made him remember what Hiro told him about his constant argument with the blond.

“ _I think Romeo is just trying to reach out to people just to hide his own problems, whatever that might be. He doesn’t mean to pry into your personal issues, but he’s probably just trying to help you go through your problems in ways that he can.”_

“The troubled little bugger who’s willing to help others, eh?” Gil spoke to himself before looking up at the sky. “Huh, guess you’re happy up there to know that you’re right again with your so-called wisdom, Haru.”

The dark brunette spent a moment longer to gaze at the sky before looking back at Romeo. The blond didn’t look like he had seen him at all and it was probably best to leave him alone for a bit. He turned on his heels and walked back towards the dorm without looking back at him. It would only make things worse for the two of them if Romeo had found out that he was spying on him.

At the very least, he could now say confidently that Romeo was a trustworthy ally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to squeeze in some time to write despite the crappy deadlines, even though the chapter ends up not being completely Gil-centric like I originally planned. I do enjoy writing about his background story with Haru (and yes, he's still that same perv with some words of wisdom added in) and an alternative life for him, Kate, and Teru. I'm also moving the core of the plot here too as the background stories of each Unit Zero member will drop hints on what happened in the past. I might do Romeo's side next along with a hint for Nana's background as the war tension is growing.
> 
> And as always, thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter, whenever I have the time to put it up! Also as an extra note, thanks a lot for the spike of kudos! I can't think of some good words to express it but really, I'm grateful for the appreciation you guys are giving me.


	8. Sense of Gratitude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still on a weekly schedule and hopefully will be until the end! I've managed to finish this a bit earlier than usual with the most annoying obstacle this time being... WiFi refusing to work and the CS telling me that it'll only be fixed in three days... Oh well, at least I still have my crappy phone data to work with.
> 
> Anyways, the chapter is a bit longer because I ended up with so many materials to work with for Romeo's backstory and I decided to put a few more familiar characters in here. I've tried cutting down the least important bits but... yeah... it's still kinda longer than I usually write.

“Assault Alpha to Operations Unit,” a man with light brown hair in a green military uniform spoke up loudly while putting a hand over his ear. “Sergeant Takeda, can you hear me?”

He could hear the static noises coming from the small radio communicator in his ear before a female voice came up from the other side, _“… Yes, Sergeant Major Kannagi. There was some minor interference with the communication system, but I can hear yours and Corporal Fujiki’s voices clearly as of now.”_

“Hey, that’s pretty great to hear at least, Hibari!” an orange-haired soldier in an identical uniform had surprised the light brunette with an arm over his shoulder. “I guess the technology of our very own country can’t be matched by the ones from the Caligula Nation, right?”

The light brunette gave him a look before letting out a sigh, “I really wish it’s the same for our army’s manpower too, Kota. Even if our technology is more advanced, most of our veteran fighters, save for our team’s Major Amamiya and First Lieutenant Amamiya, aren’t that much experienced in massive battles like the one we’re going to face.”

“Oh, come on, Yuu!” Kota’s casual tone made the light brunette raise a brow in wonder. “I know our team captain and his wife are both good and awesome, but didn’t Lindow say something about ‘keeping it casual’ when we’re not dealing with the higher ups?”

“I know,” Yuu responded rather casually before smiling. “Alisa is still calling them by their titles too and I’ve been hanging out with her these days, so I guess it’s kinda rubbing off on me.”

The corporal patted him on the shoulder as he took a step back and smiled sadly. “Come on, let’s find ourselves the captain so you can have time to spend with her.”

“Nah, we should all hang out together as a team when Lindow comes back,” the light brunette responded as he made his way through the lush forest with Kota cautiously following behind him. “We won’t have the time to relax once the war actually starts, mostly in a matter of weeks.”

“Ah, gotcha,” the corporal nodded as he looked around the area for any possibility of an enemy ambush. “Hopefully we can see Sakuya and Ren before we all leave for the−”

Unknown to the corporal, his teammate had stopped walking so that he crashed into him. Yuu’s stance was firm enough that both of them didn’t fall, but the sight in front of them had almost made them weak at the knees. The vision of sitting and laughing together before the war was quickly wiped away and stained by the red color of blood.

“B-But how…? They’re our strongest fighters!” Yuu had dropped to his knees, ignoring the fact that his uniform pants had been stained by the blood of his fallen seniors.

Kota stepped to his side as he looked around in horror before something caught his attention that he ran to the middle of the site. His teammate had noticed his shaky hand as the corporal raised his hand to point at a person they were very familiar with, “L-Lindow is…”

The light brunette slowly rose back to his feet, using a nearby tree as a support as he looked at the corporal with a hardened look. “Kota, looks like you’ll be flying again some time soon. Seems like our enemies are proficient fighters on land, but we’ve still got no information on their aerial forces…”

“I… but…” Kota turned back to his teammate with the look of shock still on his face. “How are we supposed to tell Sakuya now…? And Ren is only like a week old and he’s gonna live the rest of his life without a dad?!”

“Kota,” Yuu held up a hand to his direction as he put his other hand by his ear. “Once I’ve given Hibari a summary of our findings and got her to send us a chopper, you should go back and report to Colonel Amamiya. I’ll handle Sakuya and Ren, so you can tell her about her brother.”

The corporal looked back at his teammate, knowing that telling tragic news would be harder than telling it as a report. His friend had taken up the difficult task of telling Lindow’s wife and son about the tragedy as he knew that the captain had always been close to many people, especially Yuu. It was almost like an obligation to tell them himself that Kota decided not to refuse.

Kota gave him a silent nod before he looked back at the bloody body of his captain and saw that Lindow was clutching onto something as he lay dead against a broken tree.

* * *

“Is there anything else that you found, Private Leoni?”

Romeo gave his captain a salute, “Yes Sir! I’ve found out that the project was formerly a classified joint project with the Caligula military. I think the date of the project’s approval was about twenty years ago.”

“Twenty years?” Julius looked at the blond cadet with a raised brow. “Wouldn’t that mean that Doctor Rachel had been involved in the project at the age of somewhere around ten?”

“Huh?” the blond subconsciously blurted out. “I-I mean… yeah, but is it−”

“Please don’t mind it,” the captain folded his arms as he leaned back on his chair with a long sigh. “I apologize for putting you in this situation, Private Leoni. I just want you to know that I’m asking you all this as a favor rather than blackmailing you.”

Romeo gave him a silent nod. He saw that the captain looked like he was more tired than usual even though he mostly acted as the observer as the vice captain was the one actively training the team. He was about to question him and offered him some help that he could possibly do, until loud footsteps were heard from the other side of the door.

The blond cadet looked back at the door and expected to see people suddenly bursting into the room, judging from how loud it was outside, but the storm of people never came.

“If… if you don’t mind me asking, Captain…” Romeo spoke up, breaking the silence in the room and gaining the captain’s attention. “What’s going on in the base for the past few days anyway? I don’t mind lunchtime being longer, but it’s pretty unusual to see the office being this lively…”

Julius slowly sat up on his seat and looked back at the door, hearing the same loud footsteps pacing back and forth outside his office, “I’m sorry, but it’s not something I’m allowed to disclose to you,” He looked back at Romeo without a hint of his thoughts written on his face, “Thank you for your report, Private. You may return to your teammates and have your lunch for today.”

“Y-Yes Sir!” the blond slammed his foot as he gave him a salute. “I, Private Romeo Leoni, shall take my leave!”

The captain only gave him one last silent nod before Romeo left his office and into the lively corridors. He technically could spend some time to find out what was going on within the office as he looked into the archives for the project, but he wasn’t planning on adding up his illegal activities. It still bothered him to suddenly have a longer lunchtime and the veteran soldiers who weren’t tasked as instructors were hardly around.

It crossed his mind to see an acquaintance of his who was a veteran and asked him what was going on, but he hadn’t seen him around as well. Moreover, he hadn’t even seen him in person from the day he joined the army that he didn’t know if he was still leading the same unit. He might’ve been able to contact his family and asked them about him later on, though he really wished that he didn’t have to bother his family for the sake of his curiosity.

The blond could think about what to do next once he had his share of lunch. Looking at the screen filled with nothing but white letters on a green screen wasn’t the most enjoyable thing to do and thinking about the contents was starting to make him hungry. Nana’s weird-looking dishes would be nice enough to have after a long morning of hacking and browsing, even if the actual flavor of the dishes was mostly a surprise to him.

Romeo walked through the base and headed for the mess hall, which was as lively as always. He looked around for his teammates and Nana’s spirited hand waves had caught his attention. He responded with a wave himself as he ran over to the table they had occupied, seeing that the entire team except for him and the captain was present. He took the seat next to Gil as the dark brunette didn’t mind his presence nearby and had a tray of the chef’s experimental food shoved towards him.

“Here’s the final result of my oden sandwich cake!”

The blond looked down at the messy blob on his tray. The appearance of his meals made by her almost never looked appetizing, but the taste always made him crave for more. He wasn’t a big eater like Nana, but her creations made him look like one. It would always start with a hesitant first bite and the last thing he realized, he had pretty much licked his plates clean.

Romeo dug his fork into the so-called cake and put a small dripping piece into his mouth. The taste was far better than her previous attempt at the strange cake, but it was enough to bring a smile to his face, “Ish is so ghood!”

His response with his mouth full of the cake had brought a chuckle to Nana, getting the vice captain’s curious look. She had turned away quickly as the blond noticed the stare, but he wasn’t the only one to notice the staring.

As Romeo was digging through his own share, he could see from the corner of his eyes that the brunette had put a bit of his share on Ciel’s plate. The vice captain looked at him in surprise as he sat across her with a grin.

“Come on, Vice Captain,” Hiro encouraged her as he took a bite of his remaining share of the cake. “If you’re going to hang out with us during lunchtime, you must try Nana’s cooking!”

Ciel poked the cake with her own fork with a slight hint of wonder, “Is… is this truly edible…?”

“Doesn’t look like it but I still can’t believe something that ugly can taste so good,” Gil commented without looking up from his plate as he continued eating between Hiro and Romeo.

The chef responded to the older cadet’s comment with a frown, “I’ll… try to work on the shape next time…”

Romeo finished his meal and saw that the vice captain was still poking the cake curiously before she finally took her first bite. She nodded as she chewed the food, slightly showing a hint of enjoyment on her face. He had frantically patted Nana’s hand and showed the chef about what he had seen, but a person’s shadow stopped him from seeing the chef’s expression.

“Hey, you’re Romeo Leoni from Unit Zero, right?” the blond looked up, greeted by the face of an orange-haired soldier. “Can I borrow you for a sec?”

“Kota!” the brunette held up his hand in a waving gesture as he recognized his flying instructor. “How are things going with you?”

Kota noticed Hiro’s presence as well, but he could only force a quick smile and a thumbs up before his attention went back to Romeo, “Not really that urgent, but I think you want to know about him too.”

“Him?” The blond gave him a questioning look as Kota gave him a sad look. He looked back at his teammates, who were most likely as confused as he was. “Who are you talking about?”

The corporal turned away and looked at the direction of the door, “Let’s talk outside for now. I don’t think I can handle a crowd of curious soldiers for a while.”

Romeo looked back at his teammates once more, excusing himself as he followed Kota out of the mess hall.

He couldn’t truly read people’s minds or faces, but the look that the corporal gave him made the blond feel uneasy for whatever news he was going to hear.

* * *

It felt like a bomb had just been dropped right above him. He had been through a tragedy before, but hearing tragic news had never been easy for him. Especially when someone close to him was involved in said tragedy.

“Y-You’re saying that Lindow… _that_ Lindow whom everyone looks up to is…”

“Yeah…” Kota nodded sadly as he looked far off to the side. “It was hard to believe when we first found his body along with other fallen veterans in the forest.”

Romeo could feel his knees giving up on him that he slid down the outer wall of the mess hall, “B-But how?! He had so many tricks that the enemies can’t even detect him–”

“A failed ambush,” the corporal interrupted with a serious look. “He told us that he was assigned to a team of veterans for an ambush, but something didn’t work out in the end that the whole team got wiped out.”

The blond felt like he had just had a nightmare. An old friend and mentor he had never seen for years had suddenly just been taken from him. He had exchanged letters after he had joined the army, but he had never got the chance to show him how much he had improved.

At the same time, nobody knew about his relations to Lindow except for Lindow’s family.

“But how did you know about the connection between us?” Romeo looked up from the ground he was now sitting on. “I’ve never told anyone about him and he didn’t really want to be known until he saw me in person.”

“Yeah, about that…” Kota rubbed the back of his head nervously. “We kinda heard something we probably shouldn’t have, got in touch with your team captain, and long story short, Lindow’s parting gift for you is left in your captain’s hands.”

The blond was still in a daze from the sudden news as he stared blankly at the corporal before nodding slowly, “O-Okay…”

“That’s basically everything I can say for now,” the corporal looked around nervously. “I don’t think seeing you or your captain right away before reporting is what I’m supposed to do, so I’ll have to leave for now and get back to you later.”

The blond cadet watched as Kota ran from his spot, heading out in a hurry towards the office area. His mind was still processing the news he had just heard as he was still left in disbelief.

Lindow was one of the reasons he signed up for the army, as the older cadet had taught him many skills which had got him various decent jobs. He wanted to be the one to watch his back in the fields just as Lindow had during his rough times. He wanted to repay the debt as a sense of gratitude, but it seemed like he had lost his chance.

His mentor had been killed in the field before Romeo got the chance to work together with him.

* * *

“ _You better earn enough money this time, Romeo! The debt collectors are coming this week!”_

Romeo let out a defeated sigh, which he had done countless times for the five minute duration of the call. He leaned on the walls of the telephone box he had been using before he held the phone with both of his hands. His ear felt like burning from hearing the constant yells from the other side of the phone, though he couldn’t really decline the proposals of his family.

“Yes Auntie. I’ll send my paycheck tomorrow morning when the post office is–”

“ _That’s not even enough, you dumb child!”_ the yells of the older woman on the phone continued. _“If you can tinker with military things and sell them, you’ll have enough money to buy me a new gold necklace after paying off my loans!”_

“But that’s totally against the law!” Romeo declined almost desperately. “I can try and clean a lot more rooms for some bonus pay rather than messing around with things that can probably even get me shot on the spot!”

“ _I don’t care!”_ an annoyed grunt could be heard from the other side of the phone. _“Just give me the money or your friend can pay off the loans doing household chores in my house!”_

The blond went silent for a moment as his grip on the phone tightened, “Fine. I’ll send you as much as you need, so please keep Nana out of this.”

“ _Good. Now you finally understand my point.”_

The communication was cut abruptly from the other side and Romeo let out a frustrated sigh. He put the phone back rather loudly before lightly slamming his head onto the phone itself.

The calls he had with his aunt, who was one of his few living relatives left, had never been pleasant. Her loans would always pile up that he had to be the one to take care of it. He could have left her alone as she and her family never bothered to take him in with Nana after he lost his parents, until she got the young chef involved.

As he went out and headed for his next cleaning area, his mind lingered through his aunt’s proposal. He wasn’t a fan of law breaking, especially when it involved breaking the rules within the army, even if he wasn’t a soldier himself. But if it meant that he could keep Nana from suffering through her harsh treatment, he had no other choice but to comply.

With a heavy sigh, Romeo opened the door he had been standing in front of for the past few minutes. He caught the scent of old books in the air and the whirring sound of a computer could be heard in the room. He looked around the documents lined up in the shelves, but some of which were covered in dust. He would need to start soon if he wanted to finish cleaning more rooms, but the single computer in the room had caught his attention.

The blond put his cleaning tools by the door as he walked over to the unmanned desk where the computer was. It was his first time seeing one as it was still unavailable commercially and only the people working in the government or the military base had one. The blinking white bar on the green screen was enough to impress him, prompting him to touch the keyboard connected to the screen.

His fascination at the technology made him unaware that the door had opened and he wasn’t alone in the room anymore.

“Oh, is the archive room being cleaned?” a tall man with messy black hair asked suddenly, surprising the cleaner enough for him to almost knock the computer off the desk. “H-Hey, careful there!”

Romeo backed away from the desk slowly as he looked at the newcomer nervously, “I-It’s not what it looked like! I was just cleaning up the desk!”

The man gave him an amused smile before looking over to the side where the blond had put his tools, “Sure, you’re a part of the cleaning service doing his job to keep this place clean.”

He walked over to the blond’s side, much to his fear, only to sit on the chair and type something on the computer. Romeo glanced back and forth between his tools and the man as he went over to grab them, seeing that he wasn’t scolded for not doing his job. His gaze never left the man as he started sweeping the floor because the man didn’t bother looking away from the screen.

“I kinda wish that you’d help to clean not just dirt here, though,” the man suddenly spoke up again before looking at the blond with a smile. “The name’s Lindow by the way. Major Lindow Amamiya from the Assault Unit, if you’re curious about my rank.”

The blond was even more surprised than before. The man sitting by the desk wasn’t just any ordinary soldier as he had a high rank. While he wasn’t too knowledgeable about military ranks, he could recall that the man’s rank was high enough to have the authority to throw him to military jail for breaking the law. What he didn’t understand was how casually he was being treated rather than being scolded for playing with the computer.

“Uh… Major Amamiya…?” Romeo’s voice had gained Lindow’s attention. “Shouldn’t I be punished for messing around instead of doing my job?”

The major only gave him a shrug, “Maybe, but I don’t see you as a harmful type,” He looked back at the screen for a moment before turning his attention back to the blond, “How about I show you a thing or two about what you can do with these bad boys?”

“Huh?!” Romeo asked a bit loudly, surprised at his sudden suggestion to the point that he almost dropped his broom. “I… I don’t think I’m allowed to… I’m just a part of the cleaning service…”

“Cleaning service or not, everyone has the right to learn something new,” Lindow patted the empty spot on the desk next to him. “Come on, I’ll teach you something that you’ll like… well, at least I thought you might like it.”

The blond looked at him closely and saw that Lindow didn’t look like he was forcing him to look. The curiosity he had from before was getting harder to get rid of until he eventually gave up to his curiosity. He left his initial task and joined the major by the desk to see the lessons he was going to give him.

It first looked like Lindow was typing things randomly with blocks of text popping up on the screen. The next thing he saw was a long list scrolling down on the screen, but he couldn’t really tell what it was.

“Nice! That was the one persistent file that I was looking for!” Lindow looked satisfied when he turned back to the blond. “This kind of technology is still new, so the security is still pretty easy to break. Wanna try it yourself?”

Romeo looked back and forth between the major and the screen, still feeling confused with what had just happened, “Sir, I’m still having difficulties–”

“Stop right there,” Lindow held up a hand in front of the blond. “Drop the formalities and we’re good, okay?”

It took him a moment, but Romeo finally responded with a silent nod, “O-Okay…”

“Great!” a smile found its way to the major’s face. “Let’s just start from the… more legal ones, okay?”

“No problem!”

The two had spent the entire day in the archive room, tinkering with digital records kept in the computer.

It was the first time Romeo had found someone he could look up to as a mentor as Lindow taught him more than just the new technologies. He knew more about the different sides of the army from an objective perspective, more than he could find out by himself. There were various other tricks that he was taught, allowing him to earn some extra pocket money legally. There were also times when he would help Lindow find out about the corrupt high-ranked officers, but the major had to take the whole credits for revealing the corruptions in order to keep Romeoʼs records clean.

The blond was fine with the situation as he could earn enough money and reputation to keep his biological family from forcing him to steal for cash. As time went on, he could sense the dislike coming from other officers after what Lindow had done that he felt like he had to carry some of Lindow’s burden. He was, after all, involved with the corruption reveals that Lindow had started.

Romeo had knocked on the major’s office a few times, before a familiar female voice was the one to greet him, “You may come in now.”

The blond did as he was told, entering the office to be greeted by piles of documents along with several boxes of empty beer cans. He looked around the mess, seeing some black hair visible through the document pile on the desk, “Hey! What’s up, Romeo?”

“I… kinda needed to talk to you…” Romeo looked around the messy office for some place he could sit on, but all he could see were document piles or beer cans.

“Sorry!” a woman with short black hair had come out from the other side of the desk with an ashtray in her hand. “The one in charge of cleaning my husband’s office resigned a few days ago, so the documents just piled up and created this mess.”

“You said it differently before, Sakuya,” Lindow’s chuckle could be heard before the man himself came out from the other side of his desk. “I guess this is no longer the mess I made, right?”

Sakuya let out a frustrated sigh before she grabbed one of the boxes with empty cans. “You’re sleeping outside tonight, _dear_.”

“Oh, harsh!” the major playfully responded as the woman left with the box before he turned his attention back to Romeo. “Sorry about that. So, what’s the situation today?”

The blind looked at him for a moment, thinking of whether he should mention the corruption issue or keep it hidden. While he wasn’t paid for those tasks, it didn’t feel right if Lindow was the only one to take the blame when the blond himself was also involved. Especially when the major had done a lot for him despite being nothing more than a civilian working as a cleaning service.

“Well, about the taking credit for the capture–”

“Don’t worry about it,” Romeo felt an extra weight on his head as Lindow had put a hand on his head and smiled. “I know about your troubles and I’m not heartless enough to let you take some part of the blame when something goes wrong.”

“Lindow…” the blond looked at the major in surprise. “B-But how did you–”

The smile on the older man had given him the answer to his question. Of course, Lindow knew how to spy on the most important people for information. It would be easy for him to figure out what family issues he had, though he didn’t expect Lindow to be the curious type about other people’s personal lives.

“We can have a chat here once Sakuya and I finish clearing out the unimportant documents if you want,” Lindow released his hold on the blond’s head as he looked out at the partially covered window of his office. “Just one thing to say first, though,” he told the blond sternly before looking back at him with a serious look. “You can probably handle things better than I do, from what you have within.”

“What I have… within…?”

“Yeah,” the major gave him a nod. “Probably best that you don’t dig through more than you should, I guess…”

The serious look on Lindow’s face felt off as he wasn’t a serious person from the outside. His expression and words had bothered him initially, but he had told himself that it was only because Lindow trusted him and his skills. It was that kind of thought which drove him to become better and help him in return.

* * *

He couldn’t show Lindow what he was capable of anymore. He couldn’t fight by his side or even have the chance to watch his back. He was gone with him knowing why Lindow wanted to help a stranger like him.

Romeo looked up from the ground, only to be greeted by the curious face of his childhood friend right above him, “W-Whoa! Nana, how long have you been there?!”

“Oh, I’ve only been here for… a few minutes I guess…?” Nana put a finger on her chin to think for a quick moment before she shrugged. “I dunno, I wasn’t paying attention to the clock when I’m not eating anyway.”

The blond let out a chuckle from seeing how forgetful his friend was, though it quickly faded when she sat next to him with a frown, “Hey, what’s wrong now?”

“Are you… crying?” the chef tilted her head slightly.

“Huh?! Of course not!” Romeo quickly denied as he moved away a little before his hand touched his eyes and he could feel some traces of warm tears. “W-Wait a sec…”

Nana gently grabbed his hands and looked at him in the eyes as she gave him a warm smile, “Come on, you can tell me anything if it makes you feel better. Isn’t that what friends are for?”

The blond stared at her quietly, seeing that despite how she had gone through more pain than him, she was still willing to help him while keeping up her cheery attitude. But at the same time, it was her cheerfulness and liveliness which kept his problems away. She always had that positive energy which could bring up any sour mood into a much brighter one.

She was his main reason for his resolve to be better as he had owed her that much.

“Private Leoni!” Romeo snapped out from his thoughts when he heard his name being called.

His team captain was present as he was holding some sort of black-colored device in his hand while being accompanied by a light brunette cadet. Both he and Nana stood up to show their respects to the captain before they gave the unfamiliar newcomer confused looks.

“This is the vice captain of the Assault Unit, Sergeant Major Yuu Kannagi,” Julius introduced the man beside him. “He is in the same team as Major Lindow Amamiya, who had recently passed away in battle.”

The light brunette gave the two a salute for a moment before putting his hand back to his side, “Private Leoni, I’m here to inform you that Lindow had left us a parting gift in the form of a recording, though he had left the whole recording device for you.”

“For me?” Romeo looked confused when the blond captain handed him the device he was holding. He ran his hand through the device before he decided to play the recording.

“ _Hey, how’s it going? Getting used to military life yet?”_

“This… this really is Lindow’s voice…” Romeo whispered to himself as he kept on listening to the recording.

“ _Sorry I couldn’t see you here after you went all the way to join the military. Being a high ranking officer means more responsibilities to handle, so I’m pretty busy with things. Hope you’ll forgive me for that.”_

Julius had quietly signaled for Yuu and Nana to leave Romeo on his own, but the chef had decided to stay by his side. The blond captain didn’t bother arguing as Romeo didn’t look like he was bothered by her presence. He gave her a nod before he left with the light brunette, leaving the two younger cadets to listen to the rest of the recording.

“ _I just need to tell you that I won’t be here for a few days, so I won’t be able to respond to your letters. It’s a pretty big job that I can’t tell you about, but you’ll probably figure it out if you look hard enough into those screens.”_

There were some rustling sounds in the recording along with some people talking, giving the two the hint that the recording wasn’t done in private.

“ _Don’t be sad, though. You’re pretty much welcomed in my home and I think Ren is going to like you when he sees you. Plus, you still have those neat friends of yours in your team, so you’ll be okay without me around. Just keep practicing and studying hard, okay? There’s only–”_

The sound of another person was caught in the recording to interrupt Lindow’s speech. It was cut short with the man agreeing in a hurry before going back to the recording.

“ _Before I go, there’s only one thing that I need to tell you. You’re capable of great things more than you believe you do, so keep striving for the best. I helped you gain more skills because I know you like helping but you’re not confident enough with your skills, so it was my duty to help you improve as someone who has more experience… Wait, that would be two things to say… Oh well, just don’t forget that the strong and skilled have a duty to help other incapable people. Let’s someday meet up not as a mentor and student, but as Lindow and Romeo, formidable soldiers of Susano’o.”_

The recording ended and a single tear dropped onto the device. It prompted Nana to look at the blond, but Romeo was smiling as another drop of tear slid off his face. She wrapped him in a comforting hug, patting his back as he put his head on her shoulder.

He regretted the fact that he couldn’t see Lindow anymore as he had grown over the years. Probably he wasn’t crying because he lost his mentor, but more like he felt like he had lost a brother. He had memories of hanging out with him in his messy office, which mostly ended with an angry Sakuya kicking them out. There were laughs and angry yells, but being with him felt like he was hanging out with a sibling.

His gratitude for the help and memories would be left unpaid to him, but it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t do anything about it.

“I’ll help as many people as I can, Lindow, just like how you helped a stranger like me…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think mentioned to a friend a while ago that I didn't think that I've killed off my favorite characters in my recent stories and now, this story hasn't even reached chapter 10 but there are many dead characters... Even if they're kinda minor deaths, I know that Lindow is one of my favorites and he's not even revealed to be alive other than the flashback. Still, at least I like him enough to give him the 'skill' of hacking and spying...
> 
> Well, our last team member is up next and hopefully it'll come out next week! See ya guys and thanks for reading! Also, thanks for all the kudos so far! I really appreciate the support!


	9. One's Worth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The day is almost over but I've managed to finish writing and editing this before the day is over! Sorry that it's a few hours late compared to the ones before. I've been so busy this week that I was either too tired to write or just didn't have the time until weekend comes. But hey, better a few hours late than a few years late, right? ... On second thought, forget about that last sentence.

The only word she could come up with for the flavor in her mouth would be ‘yuck’.

She looked at the colorful creamy mess all over her arms and clothes before looking at the colorful creation in front of her. There was a finger-shaped smudge on the creamy mess on the counter in front of her, which she could barely reach without standing on top of a chair. She frowned as she found out the bad taste of her creation when she hoped that she could become a cook like her mother.

“Yoshino!” the voice of a man from behind had startled the young black-haired girl, making her almost topple over into the mess. “Your daughter is making a mess on the kitchen counter again!”

“I’m sorry!” the familiar voice of a woman had quickly lifted her spirits as the girl turned around.

Her mother ran over from the deeper part of the kitchen while still wearing her white chef uniform. Strands of black hair were hanging over her sweaty face as she came over to her with a warm smile.

“How is my little Nana’s dish today?” Yoshino asked as she was cleaning up the mess from her daughter’s face.

The smile on Nana’s face disappeared as she looked back at her creation, “It’s no good, Mommy… I can’t make anything as good as you can…”

She watched as her mother poked a finger into the mess for a taste test, but there was no change in expression on her mother’s face as she put the cream into her mouth. She patted her small shoulder as she tried cleaning up the pile of mess with a smile on her face, “Do you like cooking, Nana?”

“I do, Mommy!” the young girl responded excitedly, until she recalled the taste of her own cooking made her smile go away. “But… but I made a yucky cake…”

Yoshino let out a light chuckle as she removed her apron and wiped the rest of the cream off Nana’s face, “It’s okay to fail sometimes. If you keep on trying, I’m sure you can be a better cook than I am.”

“So I can be the greatest chef ever?” the frown of Nana’s face had faded slightly as she looked up at her mother.

The mother gave her a nod before she took out a cloth-wrapped item from the pocket of her chef uniform. She unwrapped it to reveal a sandwich with various seafood stuffed in it and handed it over to her daughter, “Eat this oden sandwich and be a good girl, okay? Or do you want to watch Mommy cook some yummy food?”

“I want to watch Mommy work!” Nana’s cheerful response had brought a smile to the woman as she picked her up.

Yoshino was about to walk over to her working station with her daughter in her arms when the door next to the counter burst open. Nana was surprised by the sudden noise as the grip on her neck tightened, but a back rub was enough to calm her down. She had put the young girl back to the chair she was standing on as the woman inspected the cause of the sudden loud noise.

A big blue gas tank was being pushed into the kitchen area through the double door by a few people in an unfamiliar green uniform. The two females watched as the head chef went over to their side and signed a few documents before the uniformed people left the kitchen. As the head chef was inspecting the tank, the young mother gave her daughter a concerned look as she whispered for her to stay.

“Head Chef, is this the military grade cooking gas you mentioned before?” Yoshino asked as she looked at the big tank, which didn’t look different to any other gas tanks she had seen. “I’m sorry to say, but apart from how the military officers who carried it here, it looks just like any ordinary gas tank.”

The head chef let out a sigh, “I have the same thoughts as you do now when I first saw it. I was only convinced when the creator of this tank showed me how it works,” He stood up from his position, supporting himself as he held onto the tank, “That military scientists is a talented young lady, but if it wasn’t for the financial issues we have from the ongoing wars until a while ago, we won’t have to resort to this shady military item she’s offering for half the price.”

“I see…”

Nana was watching the two adults as they were engaged in the conversation, until her curiosity won over. She climbed down the chair quietly and went over to the big tank, which was taller than she was. She rubbed the tank with her bare hands until she felt a different kind of surface on her right hand. It was some kind of yellow-colored label stuck on the tank at her eye level, but it was written in a language she couldn’t understand.

Before she could explore more of the tank, the girl felt that she was being picked up. Her mother held her in her arms while her eyes were still focused on the tank for a moment. She wanted to ask her mother about what was written on the label, but her mother had suddenly shifted her position so that she was facing away from the tank.

“I’ll stay in the restaurant a bit longer today to make sure it’s installed correctly in the kitchen,” Nana heard her mother speak up. “Please tell the janitors that I’ll take care of the cleaning later once I’ve finished with the installation.”

“Oh, you will?” the girl heard the head chef’s surprised voice as she felt her mother’s hand on her back. “That would be great! Looks like I’m not mistaken in choosing you as the next head chef when I retire soon!”

Nana tried ignoring her mother’s unusually cold hand on her back as she looked around elsewhere in the kitchen. As the conversation faded in her mind, her eyes went over to the round windows of the kitchen’s double doors as she tried looking to the other side. She struggled in her mother’s arms to look at the restaurant side beyond the door and a glimpse of blond hair had brought a smile to her face.

“Romeo’s here again!” the girl exclaimed in excitement as she jumped down from her mother’s arm, much to the older woman’s surprise. She looked back at her mother once more with the smile still on her face, “Mommy, can I go out and play with him?”

Yoshino gave her a nod and a warm smile in return as she crouched down to her level with a light pat on her head, “Of course, as long as you don’t cause trouble for Romeo and his family, okay?”

“Okay!” Nana gave her mother a nod, “I promise I’ll be good!”

The girl ran out of the kitchen and waved her hand at her mother as she was leaving, still unaware of the anxiety her mother had. Her mother only gave her a smile as Nana was leaving before the door closed between them.

* * *

The restaurant was closing for the night and the employees were walking out of the building to head for their homes. The head chef was the last one to leave as he had to relay some important instructions for the new tank’s installation.

Nana was sitting at one of the empty tables in the restaurant side while her mother was working in the kitchen. She was swinging her legs around while looking at her reflection on the spoon she was holding. She would sometimes chuckle when she saw how weird her reflection was as she moved her face around.

When she got bored of the silly reflections she made, she turned the spoon sideways and looked at the handwriting on the spoon’s pink handle. Her finger covered the heart icon at the end as her other hand ran over the letters which made up the phrase ‘My Chef Nana’.

The young girl’s admiration at the spoon was cut short when she heard an explosion coming from inside the kitchen. Her worry grew even more when she saw through the round windows that the light in the kitchen had gone out. It had prompted her to jump down from her seat and ran over to the door, even though she was afraid of whatever happened inside.

Her hands were wet from the cold sweat as she pushed the door into the kitchen, seeing bright red color coming from deeper inside. She forced herself in to try and find her mother, seeing her on the ground by a burning stove. She didn’t think twice as she saw her mother and ran over to her.

“Mommy!”

Yoshino had heard her daughter’s voice and looked at her in surprise. Her white uniform was stained with dirt from the explosion and her hair had started falling off from her twintails. When she saw Nana running towards her, she quickly held up a hand and yelled, “Don’t come any closer! It’s too dangerous!”

Nana’s running came into an abrupt stop and slowly walked back as she saw the fire getting bigger and bigger behind her mother. Her legs got weaker and weaker as the size of the fire grew until she stumbled on her own feet that she fell back. She saw the worried look on her mother’s face as she could feel warm tears started dripping off her face.

“M-Mommy… I’m scared…” her voice almost faded in fear as she saw her mother weakly crawling to her side.

Her mother finally managed to get over to her side and wrapped her in a comforting hug, “It’s okay, honey… Everything’s gonna be okay…”

Nana looked up at her mother as she smiled at her, before another explosion happened behind her mother and she was brought into a protective embrace with her mother whispering into her ear one last time.

“You’ll always be the greatest chef in my eyes, Nana. You’re my pride and joy.”

* * *

“AH!”

Nana had almost jumped in her bed with her body bathed in cold sweat. As she was trying to calm down by taking deep breaths, she looked at her surroundings and saw that she was in the dorm. She let out a sigh as she threw herself back to her bed.

“That was just a dream…” the chef closed her eyes as she put her head deeper into the pillow while trying to get some more sleep.

It was still in the middle of the night, though she didn’t really know what time it was. The frequency of her waking up in the middle of the night was increasing for unknown reasons that she ended up waking up feeling tired in the morning.

“Is something the matter, Private Kozuki?” Nana’s eyes opened once more and she turned to the side where her roommate’s bed was.

Ciel’s side of the room was still bright as the corporal had a few documents littered on her bed. She was sitting under the covers of her bed with a book in her hands. She gave the chef a concerned look, one which Nana had never seen before.

“You were tossing and turning in your sleep,” Ciel continued before she closed the book in her hand and slid off to the side of her bed. “Would you like something warm to drink to help you sleep?”

The corporal’s offer had surprised her even more as it was the first time she had heard it. It was for that reason the chef subconsciously stared at her superior, but the gesture had only made Ciel feel uneasy.

“I-I’m sorry, perhaps it was improper of me to give you a sudden suggestion…” the silver-haired vice captain quickly took one of the documents on her bed to distract herself from the uneasiness.

Nana watched her vice captain trying to make herself look busy with the scattered documents and let out a chuckle. Her voice didn’t seem to have any effect on Ciel as she kept her eyes peeled on the documents’ contents while the chef lied back down on the bed. As the shuffling sounds of paper were still heard on the vice captain’s side, Nana rolled to the side so that she was facing her superior.

“Um… Vice Captain?” she called out, loud enough for the vice captain to hear and look up from the documents. “You’re a really nice person, pretty much like Romeo and the others. Why aren’t you being more open with the others?”

Ciel quickly diverted her eyes away, as if she didn’t want the chef to know what was on her mind. She didn’t respond to her question and kept herself busy with her work, until her hands accidentally knocked some of the paper off her bed. She let out an annoyed sigh as she got off her bed to pick them up as Nana did the same to help her.

The vice captain stopped picking them up and watched as Nana collected the mess she had done before handing them over with a smile.

“Why did you help me? I’ve said more hurtful things rather than pleasant things to you,” Ciel gave her a questioning look.

“I don’t know,” Nana responded with a casual shrug as the vice captain took the documents back. “I just feel that you’re someone worth helping, judging from how you didn’t reject my cooking before.”

The vice captain gave her another look as she remembered enjoying the strange looking food the brunette had given her. She quickly looked away and retreated back to her bed, cleaning the rest of the documents off her bed as she went under the covers.

“We shouldn’t stay up too late. You still have a few training schedules tomorrow,” the vice captain quickly said as she had her back turned towards the chef. “Get some sleep, Cadet.”

Nana didn’t do as she was told right away and instead spent a moment to stare at the vice captain. She knew that the vice captain had been very strict with basically everything from the start, but she never felt that she was a bad person. She had got plenty of experience of being told to run around the field for stealing food from the kitchen, but she had never come to hate the vice captain.

Rather than hate, she admired the vice captain as they were the same age but Ciel had already got the rank of corporal. She hadn’t got any notable achievement in her life the way the vice captain had, so she had always respected her and admired her. The vice captain was another person whom she looked up to, but it made her feel that she couldn’t do any better.

She was happy that her friends enjoyed her experimental cooking, but she didn’t feel like it was worth more than what her teammates had. She couldn’t draw as well as Hiro could and she barely had any ideas on how to operate computers or other technologies like Romeo. She couldn’t shoot as good as the vice captain and she didn’t understand about weapon maintenance as well as Gil.

Nana let out a sigh as she headed for her bed with a frown on her face. She thought that joining the army with Romeo would allow her to learn some other useful skills to represent herself. She felt that she had always been living behind other people’s shadows and her lack of actual competence made her a burden towards other people.

As she lied down on the bed, she recalled the anxiety her late mother had on that fateful night. She always looked so happy and glad to have her in the kitchen as she worked, but her mother’s co-workers weren’t too fond of their presence. Her mother would look more and more tired as days went by, to the point that made her present self thought if she was in her mother’s way.

Maybe she was overthinking things as an effect from the exhausting training. She would dream about her past at night and sometimes woke up in the middle of the night. She wouldn’t want anyone, especially Romeo, to worry about her, so she had always put up a cheery attitude in front of the team.

She wished that she could keep her positive attitude up for her teammates, but the lack of sleep was slowly draining her. Maybe it was best for her to try and calm down before going back to sleep.

* * *

“Isn’t it cool? We’re a family now!”

Nana’s head was still dizzy from the various drugs as she looked at her blond friend weakly.

“Can you repeat that last one, Romeo?” she asked weakly as she leaned against a big pillow behind her. “I’m… my head is still spinning…”

The boy climbed onto the chair next to the bed before putting his hands on the bed with an excited slam, “What, didn’t you hear? My parents are going to make you their kid too… or something like that…”

Then, it struck her. She didn’t know how long she had been out for, but the memory of the inferno was the last thing she remembered about her mother. Her friend’s family had hidden the truth about her only living family, even though she had already realized it herself. It would feel weird for her without her mother around anymore, but Romeo’s family had never been strangers to her or her mother.

It would take time for her to take everything in, but when she looked up at the blond couple sharing the same smiles her friend always had, she believed that going with them would be the best for her.

She gave them a nod before searching through her clothes for the one item her mother had left her, only to realize that it wasn’t in any of her pockets. Or to be exact, she wasn’t wearing the clothes she remembered wearing when the accident occurred. She was starting to panic as she thought that she had lost it, until she felt something cold on the back of her hand.

“Here, I added something else too!” Romeo had got onto the bed as he raised the spoon he was holding up to Nana’s face with a big smile on her face. “I want to try your cooking too and I’ve put a reminder here so you don’t forget!”

Nana didn’t say anything in return as she took the spoon from the blond’s hands. She looked at her reflection on the spoon, which clearly showed that she had a few bandages wrapped around her face. Other than that, her precious spoon was still in a good condition with her mother’s handwriting still clearly visible. When she turned it slightly to the other side, she saw some extra black color on the handle which she couldn’t remember being there.

She flipped the spoon and saw some new handwriting, which was a lot messier compared to her mother’s. While it was her last gift from her mother, she didn’t really mind having something extra added to it.

“Don’t forget to cook for me, okay? That’s a promise!” Romeo had lowered the spoon as he looked at her with a big grin.

The spoon was no longer only a connection to her mother anymore. It was the proof of the promise she made to cook for a friend, just as she always told him before the tragedy. It was the first time she had vowed to work harder than before to learn how to cook properly, to live up to her mother’s expectations as well as to repay the kindness and the warm welcome Romeo and his family had given her.

Even if her time in Romeo’s family didn’t last long due to another accident, she wasn’t planning on forgetting her promise. He had taken her out of her dark days and it was only right for her to repay the debt. Even if it meant that she had to put up with how she lacked various skills compared to Romeo himself.

* * *

“Good work, Cadets,” Julius told his team as he folded his arms. “You may enjoy your short break here for the time being and I’ll return here after my meeting with General Grem.”

“Yes Sir!”

The blond captain gave the four a nod before his gaze went over to the vice captain standing beside him, “Vice Captain, I’ll need to ask you to stay here as well. Please let me know if there’s something else I need to handle immediately.”

“Understood, Sir,” Ciel gave him a salute before the captain left the dusty training field.

Traces of footprints were left on the sandy ground as wooden training sticks were littered on the ground. Their training was planned to go on an hour longer until the captain had an urgent meeting with the general. As the topic of the meeting had to do with the team, the four of them were told to stay behind in the field until Julius returned from the meeting.

Hiro and Gil were debating about weapon design and functionality on the sidelines of the field, with Romeo sometimes chiming in to mention the historical figures who had used said weapon types. Ciel was watching them from the bench area as she was looking over some training reports, but took the time to glance at Nana as she was sitting on her own instead of joining the three men.

With the debate in the group of three in the background, Nana stared at the clouds in the blue sky. It was the only other thing she did when she wasn’t trying to think about creative recipes to try. Gazing at the clouds had always been the activity she did with her mother on her days off and sometimes it would give her more cooking ideas. On other days, looking up at the sky made her feel like she was talking to her mother about what she needed to do.

She felt like she was left behind in her training progress compared to her teammates. The brunette had been doing better and better in his training that she felt like she was becoming the incompetent one in the team. She had no experience in fighting and her main reason for joining the army was that so she could continue cooking for Romeo. Other than cooking, stamina, and physical strength, she had no other skills to offer.

“Is there something in your mind, Private Kozuki?” the chef almost jumped in surprise when she saw that vice captain standing in front of her. “You seem to be… a little off these past few days. Your training performance is getting affected as well.”

“Oh…” Nana responded with a frown as she hung her head low. “I-I’m sorry, Vice Captain. I’m just… I don’t think I’ve eaten properly in the past few days…”

Ciel gave her a confused look, which the black-haired woman had expected, “I’m… afraid I fail to see the connection between proper meals and your training progress if you’ve eaten as much as a healthy soldier would have.”

“I… I mean…” Nana was avoiding the vice captain’s eyes, seeing as she had figured some part of her that was off.

She didn’t have the time to think of the reason why Ciel was being more concerned about the individual members of Unit Zero. She was worried that if she told the vice captain about her insecurities, it would only end up being a silly excuse for her poor performance. Maybe it was best if she had some time to settle with herself before going back to hang out with the others.

“I’m sorry, Vice Captain!” Nana surprised the vice captain with a loud apology and a quick bow. “I’m really hungry right now, so I’ll be right back after getting some snacks to eat!”

“But–” Ciel wasn’t given the chance to finish as Nana had already run out of the field.

The chef’s noise had attracted the attention of the other three as they approached the puzzled vice captain.

“Hey, what happened to Nana?” Romeo was the first one to ask before the vice captain noticed something on the ground and crouched down to pick it up. She hadn’t asked anything about the item she found on the ground, but the blond had already recognized what it was. “Wait, that’s her lucky spoon!”

“A lucky spoon…?” Gil looked at the blond cadet with an amused look and chuckled, “That’s just a regular spoon!”

“It is not!” Romeo responded in annoyance. “That’s her mom’s last memento!”

The blond almost grabbed Gil’s collar out of anger, but Hiro was quick enough to get between the two before a fight between them could happen, “Come on, guys! Didn’t you guys say that you two won’t get into petty fights anymore?”

The dark brunette looked at Hiro for a moment before turning back to Romeo and let out an irritated sigh, “Fine. But what now? Do we go after her or just leave her to eat on her own?”

“I think we should find her,” the blond suggested as he gazed at the direction he saw his friend had run off to. “I’ve known her long enough to tell that something is bothering her, but I can’t tell what that is.”

“Then we should–”

“I shall look for her.”

The vice captain’s unexpected offer had gained the attention of the three men. While the surprised stares they were giving her made her feel a little uneasy, she kept it to herself and put up her usual stoic expression.

“Captain Visconti requested for us to stay here until he returns from the meeting. I shall be the one to look for her and the three of you will stay here to wait for him,” Ciel sternly told them before she turned to the brunette. “Private Kamui, I trust that you shall keep your teammates here without any arguments until I return with Private Kozuki.”

Hiro looked at her in surprise with a big proud smile on his face, “Sure! I-I mean… of course! I will never disappoint your trust in me, Vice Captain!”

The brunette’s prideful response had prompted Gil and Romeo to laugh as the vice captain chose to ignore him. He stood in a saluting position when she left without saying anything else as she didn’t feel like she had to say anything else to the gesture.

* * *

Nana had retreated back to the dorm room she shared with the vice captain, slightly panting from running. It wasn’t like her to run away from the others, but she didn’t want to stay and make people worry. She just needed some time to calm down and return to them with a bright smile as if nothing happened, but she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she wasn’t going to make a positive contribution to the army.

But if she left the army, where should she have gone to? Other than the orphanage she and Romeo grew up in, she had no other place to go. She could’ve gone to live with Romeo’s aunt while helping out with her house chores, but her friend never allowed her to go to her place for reasons she didn’t know. The thoughts had been lingering in her head for the past few days as she was trying to find her place in the army.

It was times like these that Nana would hold her mother’s memento in her hands as she watched the clouds, but realized that even that precious spoon of hers wasn’t in her pocket. Had she lost it somewhere?

The chef looked through her bed and bags, but the spoon she cherished so much was nowhere to be found. She hadn’t taken it out of her pocket all day, so she assumed that she had dropped it somewhere in the base. She would have to think back about the places she had been all day, but she had been so out of it for the entire day that she couldn’t recall the exact places she was.

She would have to try, even if it would take all day as the military base was very spacious.

Nana had resolved herself and exited the dorm area, coming face-to-face with the vice captain as she was looking around outside. She saw the stern look the vice captain was giving her made her feel guilty for running away, even if the lie she used as an excuse wasn’t completely wrong in her perspective. The stern expression soon softened and turned into a concerned look.

“Your teammates are worried about your well-being, Private. If there’s anything wrong, please don’t hesitate to ask for some assistance,” Ciel told her before she took something out from her uniform pocket, which had surprised the chef in front of her. “And here, I believe you dropped this.”

Nana had her mouth open in surprise as she slowly took her precious spoon back. She looked at the vice captain, who was giving her a puzzled look as she was most likely wondering why she carried an old spoon with her. She didn’t really think much about what the vice captain was thinking as she couldn’t hold herself back from wrapping her own superior in a hug.

“Thank you very much, Vice Captain… I don’t know what I would do if I lost the only thing my mother left me…” the chef whispered as her grip on the vice captain tightened.

The vice captain didn’t know how to react as her arms were still left hanging in the air before she slowly rested her hands on Nana’s back. It was a sudden gesture, but she didn’t mind the warmth of another person.

* * *

The two women had found themselves on the benches outside the mess hall, with Nana telling Ciel the story behind the old spoon. The chef felt like she was about to cry as she was talking about her mother whom she always looked up to, but she had decided not to. The story continued as the chef talked about how her team members had some good skills to show for when she had none, especially when the reason she joined the army had nothing to do with other people.

“That’s… not quite what I expected…” Ciel looked at Nana, slightly surprised. “You blended quite well with Private Kamui and Private McLane from the day the team was formed. In fact, I believe it was your cooking which brought the four of you together.”

The chef gave her a nod as she looked at her own reflection on the spoon. “But that’s just all I could do. I can’t fly jets as good as Hiro, I can’t tinker with weapons and machines like Gil, and I’m not as smart as Romeo…”

The vice captain didn’t speak for a moment, letting silence between them to sink in after a moment. Nana was afraid that she would be scolded for having a silly reason to mess up in her training, but she couldn’t see any hint of anger or disappointment on the vice captain’s face. Moreover, Ciel gave her a smile as she looked at her.

“Your skill in cooking is not like any other chefs’,” the vice captain told her as she put a hand on the chef’s shoulder. “Your cooking is good, but I think it’s more like the taste is giving the consumer the feeling of having a home-cooked meal filled with love and care.”

“A… home-cooked meal…?” Nana repeated the phrase before she looked back at the spoon with her mother’s handwriting. “I… I was only trying things out like how my mom did it…”

There was another moment of silence between them before she could hear the sound of footsteps around her and shadows of other people above her. She looked up and saw that the three men were standing around the two, with Romeo giving her the thumbs up right on her face.

“That’s right! Your cooking might look weird, but they taste as if it was my mom who made it,” The blond suddenly felt Gil was looking down at him with his eyes telling that there was something else worth mentioning. “W-Well, even if she wasn’t the experimental kind of chef like you… At least it’s as good as a home-cooked dish!”

The chef knew that the blond and the rest of her teammates were trying to cheer her up, but it didn’t remove the fact that making good food couldn’t help in wars.

“If you look at it in another perspective,” Ciel added in, getting Nana’s attention as she continued, “the soldiers eating your food will get the feeling that while they are risking their lives, the homes they can return to are not far. It would renew their fighting spirit as they know they have a home they can and have to return to.”

While Nana was still trying to fully grasp the concept, Gil let out a chuckle as he didn’t really expect the vice captain to say those kinds of lines, “Sounds pretty good, Vice Captain. Didn’t expect to hear it from you of all–”

Hiro’s elbow on the dark brunette’s arm had stopped him in the middle of his comment, “Of course it can be expected! She’s our great and nice vice captain!”

“Coming from someone who’s only been trusted for a minor thing like staying back in the field,” the dark brunette replied in a sarcastic tone before chuckling. “It’s weird to see how a simple order can change a person’s perspective completely.”

The brunette responded to the older cadet with a playful slap on the face, “A-Anyway, we’re just saying that your cooking makes me and the rest of us here feel like we’re eating with our families at home. I think your cooking is also the reason why the vice captain herself stopped eating on her own, so I guess you’re putting the family feel in the team for a good reason.”

“Family, huh…” Nana looked back at the spoon with a sad smile on her face.

Maybe her thoughts lingered around that topic as she was experimenting on her cooking. She always had her mother in mind and that she missed the days when they were eating together at home. Her longing for the warmth of a family had been a part of her dishes without her realizing it. Despite how she envied her teammates for their skills, maybe she was still thinking about them as if they were a part of her family.

“Maybe we are, in a way, a family…” the chef whispered to herself as she held the spoon close to her chest for a moment. “Speaking of families…” she said as she looked back up at the others with her usual cheery expression back on her face, “how about we call each other by our names and not ranks when we’re not talking with other soldiers?”

Romeo looked at her in confusion, “Huh? But haven’t we been doing that for a while already?”

“She means with Captain and Vice Captain, obviously,” Gil added in a sarcastic tone, earning him a glare from the blond, but ignored it as he looked over at the other woman on the bench. “How about it? I think it’s much easier to say each other’s names rather than mentioning ranks.”

Ciel looked around at the team, feeling that the proposal was too sudden for her. They were looking at her with expectant looks, hoping that she would start being more and more lenient with the titles. She let out a defeated sigh after a moment and a nod, “I… I don’t completely disapprove of the idea. But more importantly,” her gaze quickly went over to the brunette, who was surprised at the sudden attention she was giving him, “didn’t I specifically tell you to stay in the field?”

“Oh, about that!” Romeo was the one to answer before he looked around the area. “Captain Vis… I mean… Julius… told us to find you two. He’s got something important to tell us but he needs all of us to be present.”

“I… see…” Ciel responded with a nod as she and Nana rose from her seat. “If that’s the case, we should return to the field and–”

“That won’t be necessary,” the blond captain’s voice was heard from behind the group as he was walking towards them. “I assume that any sort of problem here has been resolved?”

“Yes Sir!” The chef gave the captain a cheerful salute. “Private Nana Kozuki is back and ready for the next training session!”

“Good,” Julius gave her a nod before he turned to the rest of the team. “Cadets, I have some important things to tell you, but I need to come with me to my office. I’ll give you all the details there.”

The vice captain eyed the blond captain for a moment, already noticing that something important had happened during the meeting. She gave him a respectful salute as she had no need to ask him for the details immediately.

“Yes Sir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like with Romeo's chapter, this chapter is... a lot longer that I expected to be... I did plan to add some more background history about Romeo and Nana here, but that'll probably make this chapter even longer than intended. Will consider adding this part later on in the future though, I think this might be a good addition to the story.
> 
> While this might be the end of the character-specific chapters I planned, there should be at least a chapter each for Hiro and Julius too. I do have plans on covering those two, just... not right now. Their background stories are related pretty closely to the plot, so I've decided to push the idea back for later chapters.
> 
> Hopefully I can upload a bit earlier next time, though with the project deadline constantly chasing me, I can't make any promises. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend everyone! Also, really big thanks for the big jump of reader numbers and kudos! Really, I can't thank you guys enough!


	10. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One week late but I've finally finished the chapter! Finally! This is the short break I needed from the overly inhuman overtime work!
> 
> Anyways, I'm putting a bit more plot reveal here along with an official introduction to another member from Friar of GE2 to join the team. I'm progressing the main pair here a little bit more, but most of their relationship will be covered later on in the war chapters.

The sky was looking as grim as it had been years before. Sounds of fighter jets were heard in the distance as the blue color of the sky was turning into grey. It looked almost like it was going to rain soon, but the rumbling thunder was replaced by jet sounds.

Tension was growing within the military base of Susanoʼo and it was depicted clearly enough in the sky. No birds could be spotted flying through the darkening sky and the sun refused to show itself. It almost looked like the sun knew what was going to happen in a matter of hours and it hid its existence behind the clouds.

The empty corridors of the office area had caught the attention of the members of Unit Zero as they followed their captain to his office. The lifeless building had never been so empty before, especially with the liveliness it had a few days previously. The state of the building’s indoor area had told them enough that something wasn’t right.

It was a silent walk to the small office, which was soon filled with the group of six people.

As Julius headed straight for his desk and sat down with his back turned towards his team, Ciel had already caught on to the situation. The four other members were exchanging confused glances among themselves with hushed whispers until the blond captain’s stern voice both surprised and silenced them.

“The situation of our country has changed as war tension has been growing worse and worse since a few days ago,” Julius spoke up with a stern voice as he looked up, staring at the portraits of older generals put on the wall behind his desk. “Our predecessors had fought to protect our country in the past, even as far as giving their lives so that we can live in peace for the slightest of time.”

None of the team members responded to his opening speech as they kept on watching the captain when his head turned slightly to the side. His gaze was still fixed on one of the portraits with a hint of sadness on his face before he faced his team.

“They gave their lives so we can live our lives, but the time has come for us to follow their footsteps for the sake of the people in our country,” Julius curled his hand into a fist before he slammed it on his desk, startling his team members, as he looked at them with determined eyes. “We may have lost some battles in the past, but we won’t be losing to our enemy again this time.”

“Our enemy, huh…” Gil was the first one to speak up within the team, getting the others’ attention. “Not sure what happened between this country and my homeland, but I know that I’m not going to switch sides. Caligula Nation is just a part of my past, nothing more.”

Julius gave him a nod as despite the dark brunetteʼs lack of respect initially, his eyes told the captain that he wasnʼt planning on turning his back on them. He looked back at the other three while expecting their responses and Nana was the next one to speak up.

“Um… I guess Iʼll help by providing food for the army? I donʼt think I can help much in a real battle…” the chef frowned as she looked around at the rest of the team while they looked at her in return.

Romeo had smiled, before patting his childhood friendʼs shoulder, “Hey, your strength was enough to knock me out on one hit during our first day of training. We surely can figure out how to put that strength to a good use, right?”

The blond turned to the vice captain, who wasnʼt expecting that she was being brought into the conversation. She responded with an awkward nod and it didnʼt look like it helped Nana feel any better. When the chef was looking at her with expectant eyes, she knew that she had to say something to convince her.

“I think her cooking can be used as bait to lure some of the enemy soldiers,” Hiro was the one to come up with the idea, even if the two team leaders were giving him the weird look. “I-I mean, people would get hungry after fighting all day and they canʼt think straight when they have an empty stomach.”

There was an awkward silence for a moment before Gil chuckled, “Maybe it’ll work somehow, but that soldier will most likely be you or Romeo.”

“Oh, come on!” the blond and the brunette gave him a unified response, which had brought laughter to Nana.

The chef had felt slightly better to know that her cooking skill could somehow be put into use, as silly as it would be. She looked back at the captain with the positive energy slowly returning to her as she gave him an energized nod, “Iʼm ready to head out to the fight, Captain! Just give me the ingredients and I’ll fix up a meal trap!”

Julius only gave her a nod before turning his attention to the playful bickering trio standing next to Nana. He cleared his throat, loud enough for the three to stop and pay attention to their superior officer, “Y-Yes, Captain?”

The blond let out a sigh as he felt slight annoyance from the brunetteʼs casual response, “If I have to summarize my reason for calling the entire team here, I want to ask all of you whether or not youʼre prepared for the battle before the completion of your training.”

“Yes, Sir!” Romeo slammed his foot and saluted at the captain while raising his head high confidently. “I know the risks well the moment I joined the army, but itʼs our sworn duty as soldiers to fight and protect the weak!”

“Good,” Julius replied with another nod before silence fell in the room once more.

Hiro could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on him as he hadnʼt given his answer yet. He had guessed that his bad start would have impacted his reputation despite his eventual promotion. He never told anyone that he had thought of quitting in the first place, but that thought was long gone now.

The brunette hadnʼt been training long enough, just like with most of his teammates. Some time to train would be nice, but he wouldnʼt want to stall more time than necessary and let people die just because he wasnʼt prepared. No, he had to be ready regardless of the training state.

Hesitation had cost him a couple of lives in the past and he didnʼt plan on having more people end up in a similar situation. He was on his own back then, but he was no longer alone in the team.

He looked around at his teammates, who had been expecting his response. Two months werenʼt that long, but he could confidently say that despite how things started at first, he could trust those around him as allies.

Hiro finally nodded after a moment of silence and raised his hand for a salute.

“I know Iʼm not as ready as I shouldʼve been, but I donʼt want to wait and let the innocents die as weʼre forcing the little time we have to ignore the battle,” The brunette slid his hand back to his side and looked at the captain with a confident smile, “I donʼt want more people to die because of us. I want to fight for them in the war!”

Julius had closed his eyes, letting out a satisfied smile as he put his hands together and rested his forehead on them. The tense atmosphere of the room had changed slightly as the words of the team members had represented the readiness of their minds.

Ciel had noticed it as well and saw the confident looks of her subordinates. The training regimen she had made hadnʼt been completed yet, but she had seen that their skills were enough. If the captain had approved of their progress, she didnʼt see the need to pressure them into the intended training schedule.

“Captain Visconti,” the vice captain addressed her superior with a quick salute. “Unit Zero is ready to be deployed into battle. What are your orders?”

The blond captainʼs smile faded as he rose from his seat, “You have some time to prepare until tomorrow night. We will move out to our basecamp, which is one of our fortresses, tomorrow night. That is all.”

The members of Unit Zero fixed their stances as they gave the captain a salute.

As they were finished with the meeting, most of the members left the office, while striking up a conversation on what they were going to do with their free time. Just as they were heading out through the door, Juliusʼ stern voice was heard once more.

“Private Leoni, can I ask for some more of your time today?” the blond captain asked, getting surprised looks from the other members other than Romeo. “There are some important matters Iʼd like to discuss with you.”

The blond cadet looked at his confused teammates and then at the captain, before looking back at his teammates once more, “Uh… I guess… Iʼll catch up with you guys later?”

Hiro had given the blond cadet a stare for a moment before noticing that his two superiors were still in the room as they had no intention of leaving soon. He gave Romeo a shrug as he let Gil and Nana out of the office, “Sure. Those drawings you wanted to see wonʼt go anywhere anyway.”

“Thanks,” Romeo waved at him as the brunette shut the door, leaving him with Ciel and Julius in the office, “So… uh… is there something else happening today?”

Julius didnʼt speak in response as his eyes went over to the vice captainʼs side. She gave him a confused look as she stood by his side, still not fully aware that her presence in the room wasnʼt wanted.

“Vice Captain, would you please leave the two of us for a moment?” the captain calmly told her. “I will handle the paperwork for our teamʼs lead operator in battle, so you may have some more time to prepare for the battle.”

Ciel looked a little surprised, but she didnʼt try to decline his suggestion. She gave him a quick salute before she headed out as well, leaving the captain with Romeo in the office.

The blondʼs gaze went back from the door to the captain. His superior officer had let out an unexpected sigh before he opened his drawer to take out a brown envelope. He watched Julius as he slid the envelope towards him without looking up.

“This is…?” Romeo took the envelope, looking puzzled, before taking out a piece of paper from it and scanned through the page quickly. “Wait, isnʼt this the official documents about that joint project?”

Julius gave him a nod and leaned back on his chair with another sigh, “I donʼt know why, but I feel this is very relevant to the battle. Corporal Fujiki found this in the late Major Amamiyaʼs office and it was addressed to you, but hid it as a formal document sent to me.”

“Lindow, huh…” the blond cadet sighed sadly as he turned the envelope over, seeing that the captainʼs name was written on a label, which was covering his own name under it. “He was looking into this project too before he…”

“I still canʼt draw any definite conclusions at this point,” the captain suddenly interrupted. “Iʼm sorry to take your time once again, but would you be able to look into this project a little more? I havenʼt read everything in there, but this should give you enough leads.”

Romeo slightly took out a few other documents from the envelope. He checked the top part of each document, seeing numbers which looked like they were report codes and dates. They would have been enough for him to find more details in the digital archives, but he still needed time to break through the security. After all, he wasnʼt as well-known as Lindow that he had to go through things the hard way.

“I will cover for your preparations, if time is what youʼre concerned about,” the blond looked at Julius, feeling surprised that the captain knew what he was thinking. “This is all I can offer for all the errands I’ve given you.”

Romeo didnʼt respond and instead looked back at the documents in his hands. He took another look at the report codes and a little more of the report data. He was surprised to see his name written on one of the reports, even if he hadnʼt been involved in the affairs for long.

If Lindow had been the one to find those documents, then he was sure the late soldier had already known something else. That was enough explanation for the words he said years before.

“ _You can probably handle things better than I do, from what you have within.”_

As Lindowʼs words echoed in his head, the blond put the documents back into the envelope and gave the captain a salute, “Iʼll do it. Iʼll find as much information as I can, for Lindow… I mean… Major Amamiyaʼs sake…”

“Good,” Julius responded by standing up and returning with a quick salute, “Youʼre dismissed, Private Leoni. Please inform me for even the smallest discovery that you find.”

“Yes Sir!”

* * *

Hours had passed and nighttime had come. The base was more lifeless at night than usual from the war tension, but it had made Romeoʼs job a little easier.

The archive rooms had less security from the lack of personnel and the situation allowed the blond to go through the rooms a little easier. He still needed to use his negotiation skills he got from Lindow when he came across a few guards, while wondering why a simple lie of doing things by General Grem’s orders was enough to gain entry.

The blond had got past another guard as he made his way into the third archive room. The room was more spacious than the previous ones he had checked, but had fewer books and documents in it. Whether it had more shelves or not, the physical documents were not the ones he was aiming for.

As the room was filled mostly by cables of various colors, it was easy for him to trace them back to bigger machines. He could feel the temperature around him rise as he got closer and closer towards the strange machines. A set of computers were lined up in front of the machines with many cables connecting between them and the machines.

He had been in the room before, many years previously. The condition of the room was almost identical to what he remembered, minus the major sitting in front of one of the computers. He couldnʼt forget about the serious look Lindow had back then, but Romeo never got the chance to ask him what he had found back then.

If the laid back major could become serious in a matter of minutes, then it was most likely that there was something worth looking in that room.

Romeo didnʼt think twice and headed for one of the computers before pulling out the majorʼs documents he had been hiding under his uniform jacket. He took a seat in front of the computer as he took out the documents from the brown envelope. His right hand danced on the keyboard as his free hand took the documents for a closer look.

There were charts he couldnʼt understand drawn on it, but the one which caught his attention would be his name written on it. The next few pages had mentioned the names of his entire team as well, noted on the same project name with similar dates. The paper was old and worn, but he could still clearly see the generalʼs name next to the name he had seen often as he looked deeper into the project.

“Rachel Claudius…” the blond whispered the name before he directed his attention back towards the screen as he was typing.

A profile data of a blonde woman was shown on screen along with her photograph. Nothing came up into his mind as he looked at the unfamiliar face, until he came across the same project name as the one written on the documents. He felt something was off when the mention of the project was the last entry to her profile that he decided to dig a little deeper.

The blond found a journal archive under Rachelʼs name, buried under thousands of other military research files. He opened it out of curiosity and he was greeted by a long line of text.

Romeo leaned back on the chair with a tired sigh, “More text… I hope thereʼs something useful here…”

The blond skipped through most of the technical parts of the journal as he was too tired to decipher the technical-heavy reports. His quick scanning came into a halt when he saw that the format of the text turned more like a personal journal.

The journal had mentioned a series of bombing incidents happening in a single week many years ago. It horrified him to find out the purpose behind the bombing, which happened to each member of his team. It was marked a forbidden project as it had cost the lives of innocents in the process, but it was still running and the communication with Caligula Nationʼs researchers was still active. Even as the doctor herself was dying from the mysterious illness.

“ _Project Singularity… will live on even after I leave this tainted world. My children will bring this project to success, as they were led by their king.”_

* * *

It was an uneventful day since the morning, especially when the soldiers didnʼt have their mandatory training schedule. The military base had far fewer people than usual, even during the usually busy lunch hours. Under the grey-colored sky, the military life under the tension of another war went on with fewer people involved in it.

Hiro let out a yawn as he looked around the almost empty mess hall, with only a handful of soldiers having their lunch in the area. While he had plenty of alone time before joining the army, the short period of time he spent with his team made him feel a little weird when the said team went missing for the entire morning. He couldn’t get anyone to join him as they had their own things to do for the day before the battle that he had no choice but to eat on his own.

His eyes scanned the room as he had his meal quietly, feeling that the atmosphere in the room wasn’t like the usual days. He stood up once he was finished and as he was about to go out after putting the food tray for cleaning, he caught a glimpse of familiar silver hair passing by in the distance. When he shifted his focus to what he had just seen, he noticed the side door leading to the garbage disposal area had just been closed.

The brunette wasn’t going to draw unnecessary conclusions as he had been in a similar situation, but the curiosity was too much for him to shrug off. He felt like he just had to check, especially when there was only one person he knew who had silver hair.

Hiro went over to the door and put his ear on it, even though the door was thick enough to prevent him hearing anything from the other side. After his failed attempt at trying to eavesdrop, he decided to open the door slightly and took a peek to satisfy his own curiosity. He couldn’t remember the garbage disposal area being a place full of secrets and he was sure that it wasn’t going to be as bad as trying to peek someone in the showers.

He pushed the door slightly, just enough for him to see what was happening outside. The silver-haired vice captain was there, as he had expected, crouching down by a recently-cleaned trash bin. He couldn’t really see what she was doing from where he was standing, so he decided to go out quietly for a closer look.

The brunette saw a pair of stray cats and at least four kittens around one plate of food and a stray dog chowing down the food on a different plate. The sounds of their munching had covered for the sound of his footsteps as he approached the group of stray animals the vice captain was watching over. He kept his distance so that his shadow couldn’t be seen and watched the group from a distance.

“Take your time, little kittens,” Hiro could hear his vice captain’s voice, which was soft and gentle, as opposed to her usual stern one. “I have plenty of food for everyone, don’t worry.”

He tried looking over her shoulder, seeing the vice captain’s hand as she was offering the little creatures some food off her hands. He had known her to be very strict with the rules and feeding stray animals around the base was one of them that he wasn’t allowed to break. Yet, she was there giving the animals some food without anyone else knowing about it.

Hiro was surprised to see another side of the vice captain like this, but it only gave him more reason to like her more than just the looks. He let out a smile as he watched her for another moment, silently gazing at her while she gently pet the dog and cats. It was a blissful scene, only a day away before they were thrown into the chaos of the war.

The brunette decided to leave her be and head back to find the others, when he saw Ciel suddenly getting up from her position. She turned around and gasped in surprise as she realized that she wasn’t on her own in the area. He couldn’t deny how cute her surprised gasp was, but he quickly shoved the thoughts away as he had to think of an excuse for the reason he was there unannounced.

“I-I can explain!” Hiro exclaimed nervously as he avoided her eyes, not noticing that she was trying to do the same thing.

There was silence between them, with the brunette wondering why the vice captain wasn’t saying anything or maybe running away after being caught breaking the rules. His eyes wandered everywhere before landing on the door he came from, realizing that he was leaning on it that it wouldn’t be possible for her to enter the mess hall while he was there. He looked back at her for a moment and saw that one of the cats had finished eating as it was rubbing itself against her leg.

Both of them looked back at the empty plates the animals had left behind, passing by the vice captain in a way as if they were trying to say ‘thank you’, before most of them left through a small hole on the fence leading out of the disposal area. Only a single white kitten was left behind, meowing on her feet as it was trying to get her attention.

Ciel nervously looked at the kitten before looking back at her subordinate, who stood still in front of her.

“Uh… do you feed them regularly?” Hiro asked bluntly, but the vice captain didn’t look like she was planning on answering as her eyes were glued on the kitten by her feet.

Rather than being on the defensive side, Ciel looked like she was afraid that he was going to tell her to the higher ups, or at least to the captain, but he never planned to do it anyway. He had noticed that she would always join their group meals a little later with a very small portion to eat and he figured that the animals had got to be the reason. He wasn’t planning on reporting her just because she was trying to be nice to other creatures.

“I won’t tell anyone,” the vice captain looked up at him in surprise. “I know it’s against the rules here, but I don’t think showing kindness to the animals here counts as bad behavior…”

Ciel stared at him for a moment before looking down at the meowing kitten as it was trying to climb onto her leg. She looked puzzled as she nervously put her hand over her chest and turned her gaze away from him, “But why? I gave you no tolerance for any misbehaviors, so why are you covering for my own violation to the rules?”

“Like I said,” the brunette gave her a smile before crouching down to pick up the struggling kitten, “I don’t think feeding animals counts as a bad thing to do.”

She gave him another look before her attention went over to the kitten in his arms as it made itself comfortable. She couldn’t hold back a smile as the kitten started rubbing its head against his chest, giving the vibe that the little creature was comfortable with the newcomer.

“She… I think she is quite fond of you…” Ciel approached the brunette and the kitten, giving the little creature a little scratch on the head. “She wasn’t too fond of people, so it’s quite rare to see her warm up to you rather quickly.”

“Really?” Hiro questioned her as he ran his hand on the kitten’s fur, before his gaze diverted towards the empty plates sitting on the ground.

The memory of weeks earlier came back to him, when he suspected a cat for an intruder. He quickly put aside the embarrassing event of that day as he recalled how he found the empty plate near the same spot. The scene was familiar to him, except that he was the only one present at that time along with the cat.

“Wait,” he looked over at the vice captain, who was surprised at the sudden gesture. “Did you feed the animals here too a few weeks ago?”

Ciel gave him a nervous nod as she was being asked unexpected questions, “Y-Yes. I believe with how the rules are set, I would be the only one to feed them.”

The brunette gave her another look before nodding and then turned his attention back to the kitten. While he hadn’t expected to know that the vice captain had a soft spot towards the animals, he was glad to be the one to find out. He had another perspective to look at her and probably, he could see that the beauty she had wasn’t restricted to how she looked on the outside.

He looked back at her as he let the kitten run around the area before returning to the vice captain’s side. She had a happy smile that he assumed she couldn’t just show freely because of their line of work and her position in the army. It was the first time he could see her being herself instead of the strict and uptight vice captain he had always known.

The scene of her playing with the kitten with a smile on her face could become one of the best sketches he made later on. He would have to remember that exact short moment of happiness so that he could sketch it down when he got to his pencil and sketchbook.

With the sun coming out from the clouds for the first time in the entire day, the scene couldn’t be more perfect to be drawn.

* * *

The sun was starting to set already and the color of the sky was turning into a bright red color.

Hiro and Ciel were still sitting by the garbage disposal area with the kitten asleep on the vice captain’s lap. He could see that she wasn’t going to wake the little kitten up so that she could move and he had decided to keep her company for the day as the kitten was sleeping.

The brunette had finished his preparations early on so that he didn’t have to worry about it for the entire day. It was the reason why he had all the time he could spare to get to know the vice captain a little better, to which she responded without much hesitation. While he had heard most of her family history from Romeo, it felt better when she was the one to tell the story herself.

He had also taken the time to show her some of his drawing skills as he scribbled on the ground with a branch he found randomly. He had always been the one to praise the vice captain for basically anything she did to get closer to her, but when she was the one to be impressed with the skill which was nothing near as useful as she had, he had been reduced to a nervous wreck.

From silly drawings to actual detailed ones, she had given Hiro the praises that he wasn’t sure how to respond anymore. Those praises and the stories she told him had given the brunette the impression that the vice captain hadn’t seen much of the outside world. He wanted to tell her that he felt sorry for her about it, but he was afraid that she wouldn’t want his pity.

At the very least, the conversation was the first one he had with Ciel that had nothing to do with military life. As he listened to her story, he felt the need to make her feel welcomed to the team or any other place she wished to be. The simple crush he had on her had started turning to a desire to let her have the best of life, even if the best for her would most likely meant that they weren’t going to be together at the end of the road.

He was afraid that it would be the end for him with her, but he still had other things to worry about. While he had confidently told the captain that he was ready for the battle, his mind wasn’t completely sure that he was ready to have his hands stained with the blood of the enemies. Worse, would he even be able to survive just a single day in the battlefield, even after all the training he had been through?

“Are you nervous?”

Hiro could hear the usual stern voice he had grown accustomed to from his side. Ciel was looking up at the setting sun in the distance while her hand was still rubbing the sleeping kitten.

“The battle will start tomorrow, although our team’s fight will most likely take place a few days later as we’re moving to our basecamp,” the vice captain told him as she gave him a hardened look. “Some of you aren’t experienced in the battlefield, so you might have a rough start against our opponents.”

The brunette could see a hint of worry in her eyes, especially after knowing that most of the team didn’t have a military-related background. He had the same thought in mind, but he didn’t plan on leaving his newly found friends to save himself. They had been through tough times together and they would continue to fight side-by-side for the win.

Hiro let out a smile as he rose from his seat, “I am, but I don’t want to leave my friends behind to fight for me when I can still do something,” He curled his hand into a fist before looking back at the vice captain with a confident look, “We’re not on our own. We have our team and the entire army to support us, so we can do our best to protect the others.”

“Of course,” Ciel responded with a nod and a small smile. “This is the fight we cannot lose.”

The vice captain shifted slightly in her position, just as the kitten on her lap was waking up. Its ears perked before jumping off and ran out through the hole on the fence. An adult cat was seen in the distance and it was very likely to be the kitten’s mother coming back. The two watched as the two cats were leaving before they went back to their conversation.

That was, before the vice captain realized something.

“Ah, I forgot that I needed to submit this week’s report before the end of the day,” Ciel quickly got up from her seat, but took the time to look back at him as she tried holding back a smile. “I-I’m sorry for taking up your valuable time to prepare. But that was a rather… pleasant conversation, Private… I-I mean… H-Hiro…”

The vice captain quickly dashed towards the door and headed back for the mess hall before leaving in a hurry.

The brunette watched as she ran out of the mess hall with a smile on his face. He looked up at the sky, which was starting to get darker and darker, giving him the sign that it was almost time for his team to get moving. He would have to get back to the dorm soon as the captain had ordered him and the entire team to do so for another important meeting before leaving the base.

* * *

“Okay, all set!”

Hiro looked around at his bunk bed, which had been scrapped clean from the sketches he had taped on the walls. Gil had jumped down with his own things as well, packed into a single big bag that he had on his back. The captain’s side was already clean as expected, but Romeo’s had been cleaned as well despite the blond’s absence entirely since the night before.

The older cadet had noticed it as well before they both headed out of their dorms and were greeted by the two women waiting outside.

“Um… is Romeo back yet?” Nana had popped up the question, seeing that her childhood friend was missing from the group. “I made him some dinner in case he got hungry on our way to the base.”

The brunette gave her a shrug in response, “I haven’t seen him since we left Captain Visconti’s office last night.”

Gil was about to add into the conversation, when the loud creaking sound of the door had startled the present team members. The four of them had their attention on the door as a familiar blond popped his head into the room nervously. He gave them a wave before running towards the group as if he never went missing.

“Hey you guys! Are you all ready to take down the enemy and bring this whole battle thing to a victorious end?” Romeo asked in a cheerful tone, but the team responded with a silent stare, which made him slightly uncomfortable, “H-Hey, what is it? Did ya miss me?”

The dark brunette let out an irritated sigh before he had his finger pointed at the blond’s eyes, “Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror lately?”

“Huh?” Romeo had taken the gesture in a hostile way that he slapped Gil’s hand off his face, “What’s the big deal?!”

“Uh… buddy?” Hiro had patted the blond’s shoulder before pulling him away from the dark brunette. “Did you even sleep last night?”

“What?” Romeo had raised his voice in irritation before he saw Nana joining in as well. “Did something happen while I was away?”

“You.. you have those black bags under your eyes, Romeo…” the chef pointed at his eyes once again, but his eyes had softened, which was a far different reaction compared to when Gil pointed it out. “Do you want me to make you something to take care of your sleeping troubles?”

The blond gave her a smile, but shook his head in response, “Nah, I’m good. Besides, the captain’s gonna be here in a bit and we’re going to leave anyway.”

“We’re leaving after this short meeting, to be exact.”

The captain’s voice was heard in the big old room as he approached the group with a younger blonde woman by his side. The team gave their captain a salute before lining up with their luggage sitting by their side.

“In this battle, you’ll have the assistance of the head of the Operations Unit to act as your radar when moving in vulnerable territories,” Julius spoke up before turning to the woman beside him. “This is Private Fran Françoise Francesca de Bourgogne. She might be a few years younger than all of you, but she has more field experience in terms of combat operations than most private soldiers.”

The blonde private slammed her foot before giving the team a salute, “I shall implement the battle tactics according to the situation I see on the radars. I am looking forward to working with all of you.”

“Very well,” Ciel nodded and returned the salute. “I shall brief the battle tactics for our team as we are on our way to the basecamp.”

“Good,” the blond captain returned his attention to the rest of the group. “As with other units participating in this battle, Unit Zero will be addressed with its own name rather than the unit number.”

Julius stopped for a moment as the attention of the entire team was on him.

“From now on, Unit Zero shall be renamed as ‘Blood’.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done! Fran will be joining here as well to become the team's radar, but their actual teamwork will be shown... maybe the chapter after the next one? Still unsure about it, but it'll definitely come up in the story.
> 
> Anyways, I'm not sure if I can update next week because of the inhuman workload I have for the past few weeks. I mean, I think I can work better and faster if I'm in a better state of mind by not being bothered for work issues on weekends like this or the day off I'm going to take this Monday. Gotta start muting the notifications for a peaceful break after the overtimes...
> 
> Well, thanks for reading this chapter and sorry for the delay! I hope that this is the first and only delay for the story this month! Also, thank you again for all the kudos and the hit counts! I really, really appreciate it!


	11. First Challenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I managed to post this by today even after having my time yet again being taken for that stupid project again... Anyways, here's the first chapter of action in the story and uh... I just hope it's not too bloody for this rating. I tried toning down the bloodshed a lot and I know it'll be pretty bloody in some parts of the story, so it gets the current rating of T.

The dark sky of the night was changing its color into a reddish color as the sun was starting to rise. Fighter jets had replaced the flying birds early in the morning for the past few days with the smoke of the fallen jets decorating the sky at noon. The battle had been going for a few days already and neither side had any hints of conceding at that point.

The members of Unit Zero, or now known as Blood, had no choice but to sit back as the country’s battleship went stealthily through the war zone. They were meant to be the country’s trump card for reasons left unknown to them that they weren’t going to be deployed into battle right away like other soldiers. They still had their regular training to keep them in shape as they were traveling on the battleship, but it felt different to train in the middle of the war.

The soldiers aboard the battleship finished their early morning training with Blood just as the sun started showing itself in the horizon. The crews had gone back to their own posts on the battleship, leaving the Blood members to roam about in the area.

Julius and Ciel had gone up to the upper deck for a strategy meeting with Fran, who gave them reports about the battles taking place around their base camp’s perimeter. Gil watched them for a moment from the lower deck before fixing his hat and turned his gaze towards the rising sun. Romeo was being more quiet than usual as he stood alongside his team with a blank stare.

The slight rocking of the battleship had made Hiro nervous as he clutched onto the iron walls of the ship, leaving Nana to be the only one free to calm him down. The brunette’s fear of drowning was made apparent for a moment as the battleship went through the bigger and stronger waves. The two other cadets left towards different directions as the chef was keeping the brunette company until the battleship stopped moving too much.

He felt that the shaking had slowly died down and sighed in relief. He wasn’t told that they would be moving in on a battleship, a smaller one to be exact, to reach their base camp. It was definitely an experience that he would never forget in his life, especially the fear of the possibility for the battleship to sink from the impact of the waves.

Hiro turned to the worried chef standing next to him and put a hand on her shoulder, “I’m… fine, I guess… I don’t think it’s gonna flip over and sink anymore…”

“Okay…” Nana still looked worried when the brunette looked at her and her gaze was directed at the corridor leading to the cabins where Romeo had gone moments ago.

The whole team noticed that the blond was being a lot more distant since he left the captain’s office a few days earlier. Gil or Nana would be the first ones to point out his change of attitude and Romeo would start acting like nothing happened when either of them mentioned it. The brunette knew that the change of his attitude would be worrisome, especially when his own childhood friend was being left in the dark. It wasn’t a surprise to him that she would be worried about his well-being.

“Hey,” Hiro called out to the chef, who responded by turning to him. “Why don’t you get to his place for a talk? Maybe he can tell you about his troubles more than us because he knows you longer than the rest of us in the team.”

Nana didn’t look like she knew what she was going to say for a moment, until her face lightened up as an idea struck her, “Wait! I can make him something to eat to make him feel better!” She ran a few steps away towards the dining area before looking back at Hiro, “I’ll see you guys later, okay? I’ll need some time to prepare everything!”

The brunette didn’t get the chance to bid her goodbye as she had sped through the corridor and headed for the dining area. He had expected her to act that way when it was about cooking, but she was more enthusiastic when Romeo was involved in it. Perhaps that was the kind of bonds they had shared for years as they were friends since they were children. He didn’t really know as he didn’t have any friends close enough as his team as he grew up.

Hiro let out a sigh as he was left behind on his own. He looked up at the upper deck as he wished to strike up a conversation with the vice captain, but the three cadets were still involved in the meeting. He did try joining into the conversation on the first day on the battleship, only to be ignored as the topic of conversation was nothing but battle strategies and situation reports.

He took another look at the upper deck, more directly at the vice captain, before he decided to leave for his cabin. Continuing with his sketches outside would be a good idea to kill some time, especially when he was left on his own. There were still a few sketching projects that he was working on and he was planning on finishing them before the day he got deployed on the field.

As the brunette was leaving, his movement didn’t go without notice from the upper side.

* * *

As Julius was listening to the strategy meeting, he noticed the small commotion his team made. He was watching as the group went separate ways, leaving the brunette on his own on the lower deck, before he started walking away as well. He watched his subordinate until he was out of his sight, in a way that made him quite obvious that he wasn’t listening in.

“Is everything clear, Captain?” Ciel asked in a slightly louder voice.

The blond captain didn’t look surprised as he looked back at the vice captain, giving her a nod even though he didn’t pay attention to most of the meeting, “Yes, that should be fine enough.”

The two women in the group stared at him, looking confused after hearing his response. He had assumed that the meeting was about the battle strategies for the team according to the recent situations. When he saw the looks on their faces, he could tell that his assumptions were wrong.

“Is there something else I need to take care of?” the blond captain asked.

“Y-Yes, Lieutenant,” Fran answered with a nod, “The scout teams are awaiting for your next orders. They’re required to leave their camps before the enemy tries to ambush them.”

Julius looked over to her direction, realizing that he had missed the field reports. He recalled that the vice captain mentioned about the enemy army moving in a certain pattern as if they were looking for something, so it was the only source of information he could get for his orders. Repeating the field report from the start was out of the question as the delay of his orders could cost the lives of the scouts he trusted.

“Divide them into more smaller teams,” the blond captain’s order had brought surprised looks to the operator and the vice captain. “We need to find out who or what they’re looking for, so we can use them to lure the enemy to a strategic attacking position. It might be a risky task, so please make sure that every team has at least one soldier at the rank of corporal or higher.”

The blonde operator had given him another look, to which he responded with a stern one, before she gave him a salute, “Y-Yes, Sir! I shall inform the teams right away!”

Fran rushed away from the two team leaders in a hurry, heading down towards the communication room.

There was silence between the captain and the vice captain as they stood on the upper deck. The vice captain was awaiting for her orders to be given as well, standing silently behind Julius as he was looking at the sunrise. He had known her presence behind him and turned slightly to the side, “I want you to check the supplies we have on this ship and the condition of the weapons in the storage room. Once it is done, please plan the training schedule for this afternoon.”

Ciel didn’t think twice about the orders she was given, giving him a salute before she left for her assigned duties.

Julius was left on his own on the deck as he let the wind blow his short blond hair. It hadn’t been too long since he was assigned to lead his own team, but he could tell that they were developing into fine soldiers in their own ways. His team was special, as the higher ups had often mentioned, because of the fact that most of them were civilians without any military background.

The blond captain felt that the team had grown more than he had led them to, but he knew the reason behind it. His team members were mostly like any other soldiers he had trained previously, with the brunette as the exception.

Julius could feel that his energy was familiar somehow when he first challenged the captain for a sparring match. While reckless, he could tell that the brunette had a strong will to keep going strong and it was the kind of attitude which reminded him of his own father. While his father wasn’t childish like Hiro, they both had the energy of a leader who wouldn’t give up on their comrades.

It was the recklessness they shared that got him worried about his well-being on the field, as it was the same trait which caused his father to lose his life. The words of his late father’s second-in-command had echoed in his head and curled his hand as the memory came back to him.

“ _He disobeyed the order to return to the base camp and lost his life for his team and his family…”_

Had the blond captain not told about the meaning of working together in a team, he would have chosen the other path to keep on living. He had chosen to take the path his late father had taken in the past, fully aware of the consequences. He might not have understood it in the beginning, but spending some time with his new team had given him the meaning of having someone irreplaceable.

With those thoughts in mind, the blond captain felt the need to review the situation reports once more to make sure that he wasn’t putting anyone in any unnecessary harm for the sake of his team. While his team was important to him, he didn’t plan on letting anyone die when he could have kept everyone safe.

He turned around with his cabin as his destination, only to find that a certain brunette was standing there.

“Julius! I-I mean Captain Visconti!” Hiro almost dropped the sketchbook in his hand when he realized that his presence had been noticed and gave his superior a salute. “I wasn’t eavesdropping at all! I’ve just got here after getting my sketchbook!”

Julius didn’t see the reason why the brunette had to panic when he was the only one there for a while. He had known that the brunette’s intention wasn’t to listen in, especially when he knew that his subordinate wasn’t too interested in tactical-related issues. He had a small smile on his face as he could easily guess that he was there just to see the vice captain.

“Vice Captain Alencon is currently doing a few errands,” the brunette looked both surprised and embarrassed when the captain told him. “I’m quite certain she will enjoy looking at your work, judging by how highly she praises them.”

Hiro laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head, completely not expecting to be praised suddenly, “T-Thank you, Sir…”

“You can call me by name, if that’s what makes you more comfortable,” Julius continued, “I’ve heard about it from the others and I don’t object to the suggestion as long as we all keep it between our team members.”

The brunette was still looking at him in surprise as he gave the blond captain a slow nod, “R-Right… I guess…”

The captain watched as Hiro took a seat in a corner and flipped his sketchbook open. The sun was still barely visible in the horizon, but the rays peeking out from the sea illuminated the area enough for him to observe the younger cadet. He had seen the drawings the brunette put up on the wall by his bed, which he was initially bothered with, until the other male cadets slightly decorated their own sides in the dorm as well.

He wasn’t a big fan of arts or anything related as he didn’t see any use for it, but he had to admit that the brunette’s works weren’t disappointing at all. Hiro was the first one to start opening up about his personality and hobbies outside his duty as a soldier and it was the reason why the captain could know his team a little better. His move to the dorm area with them initially was simply to discipline them, but his distant self had slowly found comfort in the dorm and the team.

Julius decided to approach him and sit by the brunette as he was working on his sketch. A relaxing moment before the tense of the battle was never a bad thing and he could use the chance to take a breather. After all, he had been into various meetings with the other officials aboard the ship since they left the dock.

The blond captain took a seat next to the brunette, who wasn’t expecting him to come over to his side as he had stopped drawing. Hiro stared at him silently for a moment, expecting the captain to say something, but Julius couldn’t think of a good topic for a small conversation. Especially when casual conversations had never been his specialty.

“What… do you think about our military?” Julius asked the first question which came into his mind. “I’m referring to the current state as our team couldn’t have a proper dorm room like other soldiers do.”

Hiro looked at him for a moment before he turned his attention back to the drawing on his hand with a smile on his face, “It’s… pretty great… It’s actually a new experience for me to share a room with people around my age, even if that room didn’t exist on the first day…”

“I see…” the captain only gave him a nod with an expressionless face. “I apologize for being unable to accommodate you and the rest of the team after you all decided to help and join the army.”

“Huh?” the brunette stopped sketching once more. “I really don’t mind! I mean, everyone is fun to hang out and practice with. It’s way better than sleeping alone in a small boarding house or on the streets.”

“Yes, you’ve mentioned your situation in your profile,” Julius let out a sigh before leaning against the wall behind him. “It’s just… joining the army to fight means sacrificing your own lives to protect others you might not even know. Seeing as your previous living condition wasn’t pleasant, it’s only right for us to facilitate you all in a much better way.”

The younger cadet had gone silent for a moment with his eyes glued on the unfinished sketch of a lively street at night. Julius saw the drawing as well and knowing a little of his subordinate’s past, he assumed that it was the scenery he saw regularly before joining the army.

“I’m sorry for asking this, but…” Hiro’s voice broke the silence on the deck as he looked up at the captain with a puzzled look, “Why are you giving me some sort of special treatment? I mean, I don’t really mind, but I don’t think I deserve it when I don’t show that much respect to my superiors…”

“You don’t respect your superiors?”

The blond’s question had the brunette panic for a moment as he backed away, “I-It’s not that I don’t respect you or Ciel as team leaders! It’s just…”

Hiro let out a sigh as he shuffled his own hair, trying to think of a good way to point out what he had meant. Julius, however, had figured that respect wasn’t the issue with him towards the team.

The captain let out a chuckle before folding his arms across his chest, “It’s fine, I understand,” He looked at the brunette with a confident smile, “I have high hopes for you and Blood, Kamui. Keep trying to be better and stronger for everyone.”

The cadet looked at the captain, dumbfounded for a moment, before nodding quickly, “Y-Yes! Of course! Definitely! I’m not going to lose to anyone!”

“I hope you take those words seriously rather than bluffing,” Julius gave the brunette a pat on the shoulder before the captain rose back to his feet. “And make sure you don’t die because of it.”

“Of course I won’t–”

Hiro’s words were cut off by the sound of explosion and the battleship shook violently. The brunette went back into a panicked state as he clung onto the nearest railing when the battleship was shaking. The blond captain looked around the area and saw what seemed to be walls of water coming out from the sides of the ship, shaking it as they popped up. He took a quick glance at the panicking brunette for a moment before his attention went back to the erupting chaos aboard the battleship.

“The enemy ship has found us already…”

* * *

Romeo was sitting on the bed in his cabin, looking down at the plain white sheets he sat on. His mind was wandering through the information he came across a few nights before. He was told to report the smallest finding he had to the captain, but he couldn’t bring himself to see him. Not after he found out what the project was about and how it involved his entire team… no, even the entire country.

It was becoming clearer to him that the project was supposed to be left unknown to the public. Perhaps it was the main reason why the project pioneer’s condition was left unknown to most people other than the higher ups. The date of her death or the sickness which took her life was left hidden in classified files. He even questioned whether or not she was truly dead or alive and was hiding somewhere.

The worst part would be the reason for the team’s existence, especially Julius. Did he and his entire team live on for the sake of people with power and authority? Did they–

Sudden violent shaking had cut his train of thoughts and the blond had been thrown off the bed from the strong impact. He had to ignore the pain of being thrown into the metal floor and got up quickly to look through the window of his cabin. The battleship was still shaking as he tried finding out the situation outside through the small round window, only to have a cannonball flying towards his window.

“Look out!” Romeo yelled as he quickly moved from his spot by the window and ran outside.

The blond didn’t expect to be greeted by a peaceful atmosphere outside from what he had seen through the window, but the chaos was more than he predicted. Another ship with the enemy’s flag on it was only a few meters away and the enemy soldiers had started jumping across the gap to board the battleship. Susano’o soldiers in green-clad uniforms clashed with the Caligula’s blue-clad soldiers.

“Private Leoni!” the blond looked up from hearing his name being called before Julius and the pale-faced brunette jumped down from the upper deck to his level. “Get to the storage room and grab three swords from there!”

Romeo didn’t have the time to respond as he and the two men in front of him had to jump back to avoid being crushed by a pair of fighting soldiers coming their way. He didn’t waste any chance for formalities and ran towards the storage room as ordered, avoiding any soldiers he came across while being careful not to get knocked off the battleship.

* * *

“H-Hey! I haven’t finished cooking yet!”

Gil and Nana were running across the hallway with the dark brunette roughly dragging her out of the kitchen area. He let out an irritated sigh as he let go of her wrist before looking around the area and looked back at the chef with a glare.

“How the heck are you still thinking about cooking when the enemy is already here?!” the dark brunette spat out angrily. “Tell me, how will you even cook when you’re not even alive after this chaos?!”

“I will live through this!” Nana responded with a shout, to which Gil responded by covering her mouth and dragged her away once more.

The dark brunette moved once more with Nana being forcefully dragged alongside him before stopping by a door which wasn’t covered by the indoor light. He looked around once more before opening the door slowly, only to be greeted by the sound of gunshot coming from inside.

Gil ignored the surprised sound the chef made from hearing the gunshot and peeked inside carefully. He spotted a soldier in blue uniform with a smoking rifle in his hands, aimed at a green-clad soldier in a pool of blood. The soldier had seen him from the corner of his eye and quickly turned his rifle to the direction of the entrance to shoot him, but the dark brunette quickly ducked down and rolled inside.

Another shot followed and landed on his shoulder, but it didn’t stop the dark brunette from charging in to face the soldier head on. He had grabbed the rifle before the enemy could fire another shot, trying to yank it off his hands, only for Gil to be pushed down to the floor. The dark brunette quickly rolled away despite the painful weight he put on his injured shoulder, avoiding another shot from hitting him.

His hand landed on something that felt like a long metal rod as he stopped rolling and grabbed it before he kicked himself to the side to dodge another bullet. He realized that he was holding a spear when the sharp end was pointing at the enemy in front of him and took the risk by charging ahead once more.

The enemy soldier was now in panic as his hold on his rifle became shaky while trying to aim, but he didn’t have the chance to fire another shot.

Gil had knocked the rifle off his hands, leaving the long range weapon to be thrown away freely before landing on the floor with a loud clang. The moment they locked gazes once more, the dark brunette had brought the spear down and tore through the enemy’s chest. He landed the final blow by stabbing him on the shoulder, around the same spot as where he was shot before.

With an emotionless look on his face, Gil took out the spear from the enemy’s shoulder and let his limp body slide across the room.

“Now, we’re even,” the dark brunette whispered quietly before turning his attention back to the entrance of the room.

Nana was freaked out when she saw the amount of blood on the floor and dripping from his shoulder. She quickly ran to his side but as her shaky hands were trying to reach his injured shoulder, Gil slapped them away before walking away from her.

“It’s just a minor wound,” he told her as he went over to the body of the ally soldier, seeing as he was trying to cover something. He removed the body carefully and put it on the side, discovering a customized cannon with various cannonballs in a wooden box by his feet.

The chef joined him on his side and took out one of the cannonballs to inspect it, “Hey, there’s a number in here! This one has the number ten carved on it.”

Gil took the cannonball from her hands to confirm it and take out another one to compare. He crouched down to check the box’s contents, seeing that the cannonballs had different numbers carved on them. What he couldn’t understand would be why they had numbers on them for what the numbers represented. Were they numbered by their explosive levels? Or maybe weight?

“Oh, they’re merging with each other!” the dark brunette looked over to Nana as she was holding two cannonballs which were starting to merge together somehow. “I think these were both number five.”

The dark brunette kept silent as he was looking through the box, until he heard the chef wincing in pain and dropped the balls. He noticed that the balls were now smoking and melting the metal floor, giving him the hint about how the cannonballs were supposed to be used. When he counted the number of the balls in the box, he found ten pairs of cannonballs, which was an even number.

Gil looked up at the chef once more as she was trying to cool her hands from the burning cannonballs, realizing that Nana had somehow helped him figure out how to use the special cannon. Or perhaps, it wasn’t really a cannon for long distance shooting after all.

* * *

Hiro closed his eyes shut as he swung his sword, feeling a warm splatter of liquid on his face before he could hear a crashing sound nearby. He slightly opened his eyes, seeing the soldier he had been fighting sprawled on the floor. He had taken the first life in order to survive through the battle, even though he didn’t really want to do it.

He looked around at the chaos around him, which was filled with soldiers of both sides clashing swords with each other. Their green and blue uniforms were stained with the blood of the enemies they had fought and possibly killed as well. Their fighting yells echoed throughout the battleship as the brunette was looking around for his teammates.

Romeo had his own struggles as he tried fighting off the enemy soldiers, but Julius didn’t look like he had any troubles at all. While the blond had to have some allies to help him, the captain could easily block the attacks of four soldiers at once before cutting them down with ease. It was very clear to him that Julius was far above his league, especially when he was still hesitant on killing the enemy soldier even as his own life was at stake.

He slowly backed down to let his other allies take over the fight, hoping that he could take fewer lives in the battle, not noticing that a soldier with a body bigger than the brunette had an axe raised above his head. When Hiro turned around, he was too shocked to move away as the weapon was about to be swung down on his head. His body froze in place as the enemy soldier was getting closer and closer, shutting his eyes when the soldier was only a step away from him.

The sound of gunshot was heard from above his head and the axe never came down to the brunette’s head. He opened his eyes to see the soldier with a bleeding hand and the axe was left on the ground. Another shot was fired and landed on the soldier’s head, making the soldier’s limp body fall over harmlessly.

“Don’t let your guard down!”

Hiro looked up from the familiar voice coming from the upper deck and saw the vice captain shooting the enemies from a higher place. Ciel took a quick glance at him before aiming at more enemies from above, raining down bullets alongside other snipers on the upper deck. He was about to turn his focus back to the enemies in front of him, until he saw a few of them had snuck into the upper deck.

Fearing that the vice captain might be in danger, he quickly pushed away the soldiers in front of him and climbed to the upper deck.

The number of enemies was slowly decreasing on both the lower and upper deck, but the battle wasn’t over just yet. Hiro had used the blunt end of his sword to knock out a few enemy soldiers as he tried catching up with another one. There were mostly snipers on the upper deck, which would bring the brunette’s side more advantage, and he believed that to be the reason for the assault on the upper deck.

For reasons he didn’t know, the assailants other soldiers couldn’t handle had directed their attacks on the vice captain. The other snipers had her back covered sometimes as they were also trying to help the others fighting on the lower deck. He had to push through the last few soldiers on the upper deck as some were starting to escape, but there was still one more left trying to attack her.

Hiro was about to call out to her for the approaching enemy, but the vice captain had already noticed his presence and quickly pulled out a knife from under her uniform skirt. She parried the soldier’s sword before twisting around her knife into a reverse grip and stabbed his wrist. She didn’t stop while he was wincing in pain and pushed him away from her to gain a distance good enough for her to fire her finishing shots.

The brunette could admire her agile fighting skills, but he was still occupied by the remaining two soldiers. He headbutted one of them out of desperation as the other one went after the vice captain as well, who had let her guard down for a quick moment. He kicked himself into the air to catch up to him, landing right behind Ciel just in time before the blade of the soldier’s sword could pierce through her.

He ignored the pain of having the side of his stomach thorn from the sword as he knocked it away with his own. The soldier was caught in surprise as Hiro lined up his sword with the heart of his enemy, yelling as he charged towards the enemy soldier. His sword went through the enemy’s chest without him truly realizing what he had done. When he realized it, he quickly pulled it out to see his hands and the hilt of his sword covered in fresh blood.

“W-Whoa!” the brunette threw his bloody sword in reflex as his hands were shaking.

Ciel was watching the entire moment instead of shooting down the enemy below, shocked to know that she had let her guard down for a moment and that she was only a few inches away from the death door. As the brunette was trying to recover from the shock of killing another person, her attention turned back to the lower deck just in time for flying bombs of fire and ice to scare off the enemy soldiers.

The Susano’o soldiers slowly pushed back the Caligula soldiers back to their own ship as it was sailing away, leaving the unlucky ones to fall into the sea. The fighting yells turned into cheers as the enemy ship sailed away, leaving their battleship to start moving towards their destination once more.

Hiro was panting as he saw the escaping ship before a hand was offered on his face. He looked up to see the vice captain standing there with a small smile on her face, offering to help him stand. His free hand was clutching on the wound on the side of his stomach as his other hand squeezed Ciel’s to help him back to his feet.

The brunette watched her smile, which only lasted for a short moment as her expression went back to her usual stoic self. She turned to him and her eyes went down to the wound he was trying to cover with his hand, “We need to regroup and see if there are anyone else in our team who is injured. I shall take care of the injuries first before listening to the situation report.”

Hiro felt disappointed when she left with the other snipers without looking back at him. It hurt him more when he saw that she didn’t look like she was too concerned about his condition even as blood was seeping out of his uniform.

* * *

“There are no casualties from our side in this attack,” the blonde operator finished her report as she and Blood sat in the battleship’s meeting room. “The medical unit is currently tending to the injured at this moment, but it’s very likely that a few of them might be unable to recover enough to fight when we reach the secret dock.”

“I see,” Julius responded with a nod. “Thank you for the report, Private Bourgogne.”

“A lot of people are injured in this surprise attack, so it’s very likely that we will need some help from the base camp,” Fran continued before turning towards the direction of the vice captain as she finished up tending to the scratched Romeo had got, “Corporal Alencon, would it be possible–”

“There’s no need,” the captain’s stern voice had cut off the operator’s question and got the team’s attention, “If they’re too injured, it’s best to send them back for the time being. We can’t risk having the injured fight when they’re not in a good shape and we’re quite limited on the medical force.”

Fran looked at him for a moment before nodding slowly, “Yes… I shall arrange the transportation for the injured.”

“Last but not least,” Julius spoke up once more and stood up. “You should all get changed into your official Blood uniform. We’re going to arrive at the dock soon.”

Hiro looked at the captain as he was looking out towards the window.

“The dock… so the real battle is starting really soon…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The real battle is starting soon! While I do feel that I'm getting a little rusty in writing action scenes as I was working on this chapter, I still had as much fun as I did when I wrote action scenes years ago. I might need some time to read more for the action, but I'll try to keep the story updated at least once a week, at Saturdays to be exact.
> 
> Thanks all for reading and stay tuned for more! And thanks again for all the kudos!


	12. Prelude to Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with another chapter! The schedule for my writing time is starting to turn normal, though I still had to postpone the actual writing until last night because the fatigue from the overtime started catching up to me. And... another common writer that starts popping up: writer's block. That's the reason why this chapter is shorter than the last few. I was being a bit indecisive about whether or not I should put another action scene here, but I decided to postpone the action to the next chapter.

It was already in the middle of the day, but the leaves of the lush forest the small group of Susano’o army passed by were blocking most of the sunlight. The terrain was dark and damp, with the smell of dirt surrounding them as they walked through the darkness. Light rustling sounds could be heard as they stepped on the damp grass, but the silence in the forest told them enough that their enemies were nowhere nearby.

Blood was leading the small group of soldiers through the forest, with Julius being the one at the front. His left hand kept on holding the unsheathed sword tied on his waist as he watched his surroundings cautiously. The vice captain followed closely behind him with her sniper rifle lowered on her side, but she was still cautious about her surroundings.

Behind the two team leaders were their team members, walking quietly with Romeo still gazing at the empty space. Nana was trying to get his attention by waving her hands in front of him and poking him on the shoulders, but the blond wasn’t responding at all. Hiro had noticed Romeo’s blank stare as well, but he had already given up on trying to snap him out from his thoughts.

The brunette let out a sigh before looking back, seeing that Gil wasn’t joining them. The dark brunette was in a similar situation to the blond, but he was looking far at the back. He wasn’t completely sure what happened during the incident on the ship that caused his change of attitude. He was sure that it had nothing to do with fighting the dark brunette’s former countrymen as Gil had said it himself that he wasn’t planning on betraying the team.

Hiro felt a little curious, but it wasn’t a good time for him to ask the older cadet about it. Even if Gil wasn’t the type of soldier who would obey an order without question, he was sure that the dark brunette wasn’t going to put his personal issues in front of war-related matters. Maybe he didn’t need to ask at all and it would be just like the time when Gil decided to speak about his past.

The brunette turned his gaze back to the front, just in time to be greeted by better illumination in the area. He squinted in response to the sudden exposure of light, allowing his eyes to adjust to the brighter area after being in the dark for hours. The moment he saw the new area, the tension from the time he saw the enemy soldiers returned to remind him that they were at war.

The scenery of the dark forest were replaced by a brighter camp area filled with tents and soldiers. Some of them were pacing back and forth, passing a few packages of supplies from one tent to another. Other soldiers who weren’t walking around had formed groups and sat around campfires to eat their lunch rations. It was a rather silent group meal, which was different to the condition in the mess hall back in the base.

The group of soldiers from the forest dispersed as ordered by the Blood Captain, leaving the small team to remain at the camp’s entrance. Nana and Hiro were staring at Julius, waiting for their next orders, but the group of injured people sitting in front of a medical tent had caught his attention.

The blond captain rushed over to one of the injured soldiers and knelt down to his level, “What happened?”

The rest of Blood soon joined up with him as well, standing around the injured soldier as he struggled to sit up, “They… they found out… about the p-plan…”

Julius didn’t say a word, but a low growl of anger coming from him was still audible. He looked at the soldier once more and nodded before he rose back to his feet. His attention was once again back on his questioning team members, with the addition of the operator who had just returned to the group after being separated for a moment after arriving at the camp.

“Lieutenant,” Fran gave the captain a quick salute, “General Grem wants to see you in his tent immediately.”

He responded with a nod, “Thank you for informing me, Private. I will head over there in a moment,” Julius directed his attention back to his team once more, “You may unpack and setup a tent around this camp, but it’s preferred that your tents are closer to the fortress further in.”

The team gave him a silent salute before he left with Fran, leaving Blood to setup their tents. Hiro was standing still in his place as the team was starting to move, seeing that everyone was starting to do their own things without mentioning about what happened a few hours earlier. While he knew that it wasn’t a surprise for to have lives lost in the war, but he couldn’t shake off the memory of him killing another human being with his hands.

The brunette looked at his hands and saw some imaginary blood dripping off his palm. The thought of having the blood of more people in his hands made him shudder before he tried pushing those thoughts away. He joined Romeo and Gil soon after as Nana and Ciel had gone their way to setup a tent together a bit farther from them, but the usually bickering duo was a lot quieter than usual.

The older cadet would sometimes look back at the camp’s entrance as they were setting up their tent. The brunette could see both confusion and anger as he looked back every now and then. The blond was being almost completely mute and very cooperative with Gil, but he avoided locking gazes with either of the other two. They were both being quiet for their own reasons, but it was better in a way as the big tent they had to share was set without too much issues.

The three men came out of the tent again once they put their belongings in the tent, going out to walk around the camp as they were waiting for more orders.

* * *

The sun was starting to set and the darkening sky was becoming visible above the camp. More soldiers had returned to the camp as well, with the injured being taken to the medical tents.

Hiro had just come out of the tent after spending hours drowning himself in his sketches and saw the extra group of people just outside the white medical tents. He tried approaching the tent, seeing as the silver-haired vice captain was also inside to help out with the injured. From his position, he couldn’t see her face clearly, but he could really tell that she was putting her heart into her job even if he guessed that she wasn’t too good at handling people.

His hand went over to the bandaged wound on his side, smiling as he remembered her tending to his wounds. While it was definitely her job as a former medical soldier to tend to other people’s wounds, he couldn’t help but feel happy that it was her who bandaged and took care of his wounds instead of other medical soldiers. There were also his other team members whom she treated as well, but he didn’t care too much as long as it wasn’t the captain who asked her to treat his wounds.

That thought made him question whether Julius was injured at all, seeing as he looked barely scratched after all the commotion.

The brunette looked at the direction where the officials had put up their tents as the captain had joined in the group of higher ups. It wasn’t his business, but he was kind of curious about how his captain made it out through the entire battle without taking a hit. While it would be nice for him to survive without a scratch, maybe getting hurt every once in a while wouldn’t be so bad if the vice captain was the one to take care of him.

He looked back at the busy vice captain once more before walking away from the tent, but his presence was still noticeable to her in the middle of her work as she looked outside just in time for the brunette to walk away.

Hiro let out a sigh as he had no one to hang out with during his free time in the camp. Nana volunteered to help out with cooking in the camp, so she was busy preparing dinner along with other soldiers in charge of the meals. It was nice enough considering the ration pack he had for lunch was barely edible, but he just lost another person to talk with.

Julius had been moving from one tent to another for strategy meetings with his latest order for the team was for them to help out around the camp. He wasn’t sure what he could do to help as the other soldiers were giving him the cold shoulder for unknown reasons. He didn’t know if he was the only one getting that kind of treatment as both team leaders had no problems fitting in for their work.

The brunette let out another sigh, thinking that it could be an excuse for doing to help. It wasn’t like he was trying to avoid the chores around the camp, though he still felt satisfied enough to have some time to draw.

He looked around the camp once more, seeing that the other soldiers were busy trying to prepare for the battle on the next day. He didn’t know how he could help as he didn’t know about weapons as well as Gil did, so he decided to take a walk instead to a hill near the fortress.

As he was a few steps away from the hill, he could see that someone else was already there, sitting by the single dead tree on top of it. He had the same black Blood uniform he had and after a closer inspection, Gil was the one who was resting by the tree.

Hiro approached him without a word, but the dark brunette knew that he was coming from the rustling sounds of the grass. The older cadet turned to him and slightly showed the canned drink he was holding as he was sitting on the ground. His head pointed at the empty space on the other side of the tree, motioning the brunette to sit down with him on the small hill.

Gil took a sip of his drink as the brunette sat down and leaned against the tree, “The captain’s not gonna be happy to see you slacking off out here.”

“It’s not like I want to loiter around doing nothing while the others are busy,” Hiro responded with a sigh. “They just push me away when I offered them some help.”

The dark brunette let out a chuckle as he swung around his nearly-empty can with his fingers, “That’s pretty normal. You’re just a greenhorn in their eyes and they expect you to fail and pack home anytime soon.”

“That’s not gonna happen to me!” Hiro stood up and exclaimed loudly, enough to get the attention of a few soldiers around the hill. “I’ve made it here and I’m not going back!”

Gil calmly looked up at him before turning his attention to the drink in his hand, “I know, but not everyone here thinks that way. Weak-willed newbies in the army mostly end up being a burden for their seniors that the seniors themselves won’t bother working with them anymore.”

“But… that was just me…” the brunette whispered as he turned his attention towards the older soldiers in the camp. “You and Romeo didn’t get the cold glares when you guys helped the others with their weapon maintenance. Nana was pretty much welcomed to the cooking area with laughs and smiles…”

“They know about us, Blood, who were mostly new people to the army,” the dark brunette started in a calm manner, “When they saw you looking like you had just been beaten up with your face saying that you weren’t prepared for anything happened in battle, you’ve become the one person who’s not welcomed here.”

“But you know that’s not the case, right?” Hiro sounded desperate when he asked, prompting the older cadet to stand up with an annoyed grunt.

“They’re not me,” Gil sternly told him, “Besides, you were being too reckless out there. Don’t even think about trying to die when you haven’t even protected anyone.”

The brunette went silent as Gil finished his canned drink in a single gulp. The older cadet’s attention turned to the liveliness of the camp below with the empty can still in his hand. The empty can’s shape changed as his hold on it tightened, to the point that he almost crushed the metal can.

“I don’t plan on losing another person in this war,” the dark brunette told Hiro in a calm tone, even though his hand was starting to bleed from the sharp metal in his hand. “Not you, not Romeo, and not anyone in the team. I don’t care if it’s against my own countrymen, but I plan on getting my own vengeance without losing anyone else.”

The brunette looked at Gil, who had his back turned to him, before chuckling, “I guess… Having an actual goal in mind actually drives someone to be better and better, huh…”

“Maybe…” The older cadet went back to his habit from earlier that day and looked at the camp entrance, “And wanting to know whom we’re actually up against…”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

Hiro shot the older cadet a curious look as he failed to hear what Gil had whispered just now. The dark brunette simply played around with his hat before raising a hand to bid him goodbye.

“I still need to tune up a few more rifles for tomorrow, so I gotta go ahead,” The dark brunette slightly turned to him as he was leaving with a smile on his face, “Don’t let those sorry excuse of soldiers get to you. Just do the things you know you can do.”

A smile formed on the brunette’s face as he watched the older cadet leaving the hill. He still wasn’t sure about what he should be doing, but knowing that he wasn’t a complete lost cause made him a little better. He just needed some time to prove himself that he was capable of being a good soldier and not just a hopeless greenhorn waiting to be kicked out.

As Gil was leaving, he looked back at the hill and saw that Hiro was still standing there. He let out a smile before lowering his hat to cover his face.

“I’m just doing what I can. Just like you told me years ago, Haru.”

* * *

“I… see…”

Julius stood still in his place with his expression barely readable to the blond cadet standing in front of him. He looked deeper into his tent, gazing at the tactical map he put on a board. His hand curled into a fist as he kept avoiding the gaze of his subordinate.

“I… thank you for your thorough search of the project, Private Leoni,” the blond captain told him before sighing. “I have a feeling that this is the case when General Grem was so desperate to win this battle.”

Romeo gave him a nervous nod and hung his head low, “So… what is our next order…?”

“No change in plans,” The blond looked up at him in surprise, especially after everything he said about the project. “I’ll handle everything, when the time comes.”

Julius started walking towards the exit of the tent, but stopped when he saw that Romeo was still looking at him. His expression told the captain that there was more than what he said, but the cadet quickly shook his head, “T-That’s all I can report for now, Captain…”

The captain stared at him for a moment before letting out a sigh, “Your behavior is a little too suspicious. While it’s not easy for you after finding out about the truth, I need you to act as if nothing happened.”

The blond looked back before nodding and giving him a salute as he tried forcing his usual smile, “Yes… Sir!”

“Good,” Julius only nodded without any notable expressions on his face.

The captain watched him leave the tent, leaving him to stare at the flapping tent instead. He put a finger under his chin as his head tried putting the pieces of information he had along with the details Romeo had found for him. While going to war as planned would cost more lives due to the lack of actual planning from other ranked officers, he didn’t plan on abandoning the innocent lives involved to protect a small group of people, no matter how much that small group meant to him.

What he couldn’t understand would be the fact that Doctor Leah and General Grem had different sets of orders when it concerned Blood. The general wished nothing more than to save war budget rather than facilitating the soldiers, especially Blood, with some proper survival equipment. The doctor had intended for Blood to live through the war and won without losing anyone in the team, even if some other soldiers were to be sacrficed.

Reasons for their different views were still unknown to him and he was still trying to find out why the two people decided to work together when they had opposite viewing points. He couldn’t take either sides as he didn’t plan on putting money or several people ahead of many innocent souls. Losing a comrade in a war was a natural thing, but if he had a way, the ideal way, which was to keep everyone alive, he would take that path without hesitation.

Dying meant the end of everything. That was one conclusion he could draw from his father’s death. None of his team and his army should die in the war. Between dying for someone or living for someone, he had chosen to live for everyone.

Julius exhaled loudly and was about to head out from his tent, only to be stopped by another one of his team. He didn’t plan on sending the older cadet away as the issues he had would still be his own responsibility as a team leader.

“Captain,” Gil gave him a salute as he stood by the entrance of the tent, “I want to ask you something. It’s important.”

The blond captain wasn’t happy with the interruptions as it was about time for his next meeting, but he had to listen to what his own team member had to say. With a slightly annoyed sigh, he motioned the dark brunette into his tent, “Come in. We can talk inside.”

The cadet nodded silently and entered the tent as he was told, with Julius flipping the tactical map around to show a clear board instead. He looked around suspiciously at the much spacious tent the captain had been given, compared to the smaller one he had to share with Hiro and Romeo. While it was understandable as Julius was the team captain of the soon-to-be elite team, Gil couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed at the different treatment he and his teammates had been given.

“Is something wrong, Private McLane?” Julius had noticed the dark brunette’ gestures after entering the tent, but he wasn’t going to jump into unnecessary conclusions. “You look like you’re occupied ever since the incident on the ship this morning.”

Gil turned his attention back to the captain, with his eyes looking more like he was glaring at Julius, “Have their uniforms always been in that color?”

“Uniforms?” the captain asked with a puzzled look. “Are you referring to the Caligula Nation’s military uniforms?”

The dark brunette responded with a nod as his gaze went over to the direction of the tent’s entrance, “All I remember is that the Caligula military wore dark blue uniforms, not like the one worn by those attackers.”

“They have always been in that color,” Julius looked a little annoyed, especially after the question being asked was too trivial. “It’s the same as our country’s uniforms. They have never changed since the past few decades.”

“Never changed, huh…” Gil had curled his hand into a fist for a moment, but then relaxed his hand once again. He looked at the captain calmly without any hint of anger left on his face before giving him a salute, “Sorry to take your time, Captain. That’s all I need to ask.”

The dark brunette was already on his way out of the tent when Julius’ stern voice stopped him in his tracks, “You’re not one to ask trivial questions, McLane. If it’s a problem that requires my attention, please tell me the details of the issue so I can discuss it with the other officers.”

The older cadet stood still for a moment by the entrance and let out a sigh as the captain would still insist on prying into his personal issues. He turned slightly to the captain, but his face was still kept hidden under the shade of his hat, “It’s nothing. It’s not for the big guys to be worried about, assuming that they did nothing wrong.”

“Wait,” Julius was standing right behind him, but he knew that the captain wasn’t going to force him to speak more than he wanted after his blunt statement. “Tell the rest of the team to prepare to head out for tomorrow. We’re going to join the scouts in the forest area tomorrow morning.”

“You’re the team captain,” Gil turned entirely to look at the captain with a smirk, “Shouldn’t you be the one to tell your subordinates about the next orders?”

“I can’t,” the blond captain replied shortly. “I need to meet with a few other officers and I won’t be available until midnight.”

The dark brunette raised a brow as he watched his captain going back deeper into the tent for a few documents. “Hey, there’s dinner tonight and it’s Nana who’s cooking. You wouldn’t choose a regular ration pack over proper food, would you?”

“Tell Kozuki my apologies,” Julius checked through the documents quickly as he joined the older cadet by the tent’s entrance. “If there aren’t any questions, particularly ones which aren’t trivial, I need to be on my way.”

“Sure,” Gil responded casually with a shrug, which Julius ignored as he had to leave immediately.

The dark brunette watched the captain leaving and once he was out of sight, his thoughts went back to the captain’s answer as he was walking to the campfire where the other soldiers and the rest of his team were gathering.

* * *

“A pipping hot meal in the middle of the wilderness? Now that’s a new thing to the military life!”

Nana laughed as one of the soldiers gave her a thumbs up for the food she made, “Thank you!”

“Of course this is better! The rice is soft and well-cooked, perfect for the hot soup in this cold night!” Romeo’s cheerful tone caught the attention of his team except for Gil, but the blond completely ignored the stares they were giving him. “The rice for the rice ball ration we had for lunch tasted more like raw rice straight from the fields!”

Some of them laughed at the blond’s food comparison as the blonde operator in the group eyed him shyly, “S-Should I file the complaint to the one who manages the ration supply?”

“If that means we’re going to have better food, then go for it Fran!” Hiro suddenly realized his tongue slip that he got some stares from the other soldiers, “I-I mean… please do, Private Bourgogne!”

The brunette expected either a scolding from the soldiers more senior than him or for them to laugh, but the cold silence made him feel a lot more uneasy. Ciel had seen the situation as well and took a quick glance at the guilt-struck cadet before clearing her throat.

“Please excuse my subordinate’s impudence. It was an old habit of his as Private Bourgogne and Private Kamui are…” the vice captain turned her gaze towards the two said officers for ideas, until she saw the moment when Nana was pouring another bowl of soup for Romeo, “… o-old friends…”

Hiro, who was drinking the last drop of his soup, almost choked on the soup after hearing the vice captain’s lie. He hadn’t expected her to lie for him, but they barely had any interactions after arriving that the story didn’t seem like it was true. He wasn’t planning on making the vice captain a liar in front of other soldiers that he needed to think about something to cover up, but he wasn’t the only one having the same thought.

“H-Hey, this is why I always told you to eat slowly!” Fran acted like he was scolding the brunette while rubbing his back.

The brunette saw that the little act was believable enough for the soldiers to stop giving him icy glares that he gave the vice captain a thumbs up. Ciel wasn’t too happy with his slip-up that it was her turn to shot him a glare instead.

As Blood and the rest of the soldiers enjoyed the new menu for their dinner, Gil was left staring blankly at the campfire with his food left untouched. He ignored Romeo when he stole some of the food from his bowl even if the act was clearly visible to him.

His thoughts went back to the short conversation he had with Julius, which made him ponder back if he was remembering things wrong. Except, he was in a strategic position to see the two people who had caused the fire which killed his adoptive family. One was definitely a Susano’o soldier, defined by the identical uniform worn by his present allies outside the team. The other one he was sure to be a soldier from Caligula Nation, but with a different uniform.

He had always known his former homeland’s military uniform as he had clients from the military who wore the same uniform. What struck him as odd would be the difference between the uniformed people in the past and the present, when the captain clearly said that there hadn’t been a change in their military uniforms.

Would it be possible for them to have an elite team, just like how Susano’o had Blood?

“Hey,” Gil snapped back to reality, just in time to see Hiro standing in front of him with the other soldiers leaving the campfire. “Are you okay? You better eat something before Romeo or Nana steals everything off your share.”

He looked down to his bowl, whose contents was being taken by the two said soldiers. He ignored them completely and sighed, “I’m fine. Just thinking about the plan for tomorrow.”

“There’s no need to worry about our plan for tomorrow,” Ciel had joined into the conversation, much to the two men’s surprise. “I had briefed a few scouts who would be joining us tomorrow and our task was to make sure that they weren’t detected or even harmed by the enemy.”

“Like an escort mission, huh?” the blond cadet asked as he and Nana got up from stealing off Gil’s bowl. “That’s gonna be a pretty simple one.”

“Right!” Nana added cheerfully. “And I need to prepare our food too!”

“There’s no time for that, Nana,” the vice captain’s words made the chef frown in disappointment. “We need to leave very early in the morning and we shall be taking a few ration packs to reduce our equipment load.”

“Well… I guess it’s time to get ready for bed, huh…” the brunette commented while clearly looking disappointed. “I thought that it’s fun to hang out here a little longer…”

The vice captain let out a sigh as she shot him a glare, “Get some sleep, cadets. We can’t afford to have fewer escorts tomorrow.”

“Yes…”

Hiro, Romeo, and Nana responded in a lackluster tone before the team separated to their tents.

Gil watched as his team and the other soldiers retreated to their tents to sleep for the day, leaving a select few to keep on watch. He looked at the distance, right on the fortress which was also guarded by more soldiers. He wouldn’t get the answers of the questions in his mind until he met one of the soldiers himself. Even if it wasn’t a part of the task his team was assigned to, he needed to capture one person to be interrogated.

Whoever the true killer of his adoptive family was, he would make sure that they would pay the price using his own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More action coming soon! And the big reveal for the project's secret is... still not yet. I'm still waiting for the best moment to reveal everything.
> 
> Also, thanks again for all the kudos!


	13. Hesitation and Resolve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's yet another late chapter, but this time from me dealing with writer's block and the fatigue of overtime work starting to catch up. I'm still feeling pretty tired right now, but I finally managed to finish the editing just in time before I delay this chapter even more.
> 
> This is another part for Gil's story, as well as some hints about the 'mystery project' Romeo figured out before. The action is a bit lacking here, but I do plan on putting more action scenes later on in the story. After all, what's a war story without any action scenes anyway?

Gil let out a tired sigh as he fastened the strap of his rifle around his shoulder. The thoughts of his past came back to haunt him for almost the entire night that it was already at the crack of dawn when he was calm enough to sleep. His eyes were heavy, but he doubted that he would be able to sleep when the memory of the two mysterious soldiers came to mind the moment he shut his eyes.

The dark brunette turned to the sleeping bags he and his teammates used the night before, which had mostly been tidied up into two rolls. His own bag was still a mess as he had to get ready to leave only moments after waking up. That was, assuming he had even a minute of sleep.

The voices outside the tent had caught his attention, indicating that it was time for him to leave. He didn’t have the time to go back and tidy up his sleeping bag, so he ignored the extra mess in the tent and headed out.

The camp area was still dark as the shade of the big fortress nearby had blocked the sunlight from coming into the area. The area had fewer people compared to the night before as some of them had left for the battle, leaving a few on standby to protect the non-combatant officer.

Gil’s eyes scanned the almost empty camp, accompanied by the sound of flickering flames of the campfire illuminating the dark camp. He was about to question his teammates’ whereabouts when he spotted the black uniforms his team wore. The small group was lining up in front of the captain’s tent with the blonde operator being present as well.

He joined the group without a word, seeing that he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t completely prepared.

Romeo was listening to the vice captain’s plans and was taking notes as he looked back and forth between his writing and the vice captain herself. Standing next to him was Hiro, who was nodding off but tried to keep up with the strategy briefing by slapping his cheeks when he realized that he was about to fall asleep. Nana was standing behind the two, munching away the two sandwiches in each of her hands.

“That’s the plan for today,” Ciel said as she finished her explanation. She looked at the team, whom she mostly believed not to be attentive, and spotted the extra person in the group whom she didn’t recall seeing when she started the briefing, “Private McLane, you’re late.”

Gil let out a sigh, knowing that his lateness to the briefing was too obvious, “Yeah, I know…”

“I would like to add that a punishment for your tardiness is in order, but,” Julius looked over at Gil for a moment before the captain’s gaze fell on the operator standing on his left, “Private Bourgogne got the information that our enemy started moving earlier than we anticipated. We’ve reduced the number of scouts to escort and the rest of the team will intercept the incoming enemy soldiers by sea.”

“W-Wait, the sea?” Hiro’s question had gained the team’s attention as the color slowly faded from his face. “T-Then that means… another s-ship?”

Julius nodded in response without any hint of worry despite knowing the brunette’s fears, “The marines need a few more fighters on board.”

“I believe this was a part of the briefing a moment ago, Cadet,” Ciel let out a sigh before her eyes went over to Gil, “I shall tell you the details as we go. Weʼre already behind schedule and the scouting teams are already on their way to the rendezvous point.”

“Yeah, yeah…” The older cadet’s casual response wasn’t something out of place for the team, but the bags under his eyes stood out a lot more as he tried walking away from the group. Noticing that he was the only one moving, Gil stopped in his tracks and looked back at them with an annoyed look, “Hey, shouldn’t we get moving already if we’re actually in a hurry?”

“Y-Yes…” Ciel quickly caught up to him, with the team members they left behind wondered about the dark brunette’s unusual hastiness.

Hiro would comment about how he was separated from the vice captain he adored so much, but Gil’s unusual attitude since the ship attack the day before had caught his attention instead. At that point, he was most likely the only one in Blood who knew about the tragedies in Gil’s past. He wasn’t planning on sharing the dark brunette’s story, especially when Gil had told him not to tell the others about it.

His mind was still wandering about it as the rest of his team started moving back towards the forest area and to the docks. He didn’t know what should be done for Gil as he had even fewer clues about the mysterious soldiers. Even without knowing more than what the older cadet had told him, Hiro felt the need to help in some way he could. He just couldn’t think of what kind of help he should offer him.

* * *

The morning was slowly turning into noon, but the sky was looking grim. A small group of scouts was being led by two members of Blood through the forest of pine trees while being cautious towards the quiet area around them.

The vice captain had taken the time to repeat the plan she had briefed the team previously, even if Gil didn’t look like he was listening. He gave her half-hearted nods whenever she asked if he understood the plan, but the problem wasn’t about the complexity of the plan. It was more like he didn’t like how he was supposed to follow everything without question as it was the order given to them.

Gil’s original intention to join the army wasn’t to fight for the country, but it was more about his personal vengeance. He wanted to actively hunt down the killers of his foster family, so the defensive plan the vice captain had given him wasn’t something he was a fan of. He planned on doing things his own way once they got into separate teams, even if it meant that he had to put his team on the line.

The group came into a stop in the middle of a small clearing, with the tall pine trees surrounding them. The scouts had lined themselves up into two separate groups, consisting only five people in each team. They were waiting for further orders as the two Blood members had just finished with their own briefing plan, even if the end of the briefing didn’t look too good in their eyes.

“So, one team’s gonna be taking out the eastern camp and the other on the northwest one?” Gil asked without any enthusiasm as he looked impatient to head for his post. “Sounds easy enough.”

His response made the vice captain sigh before reaching for the thin black cable hidden under her collar, showing it to him, “You need to inform Private Bourgogne after arriving at your post through this communicator. Our current team is not meant for any large scale combat, so it is necessary for you to follow the plan as instructed.”

“You want me to run like a coward when we see the enemy?” Gil’s tone turned into a sarcastic one as he gave the vice captain a glare, “It’s not like we can run in any kind of situation. We need to shoot those guys down and show them that we’re not messing around!”

“We can’t put our scouts into any unnecessary danger and the plan was made with that fact in mind,” Ciel’s response was calm, as opposed to the older cadet’s reaction. “Our task is to secure a safe route for them to gain more information and escort them back to the camp without being found by the enemy.”

Gil looked back at the scouts, who were lined up into two separate groups as they were standing calmly without any expression. Even if they didn’t show any notable response to the argument he had with the vice captain, the air had changed around the area as he didn’t show himself to be trustworthy to lead the team. He let out a sigh and turned away with his hand sitting on top of his hat.

“Fine, whatever…” He could feel as if he was being watched even as he had his back turned to Ciel, but his mind wandered into other possible situations which made running away impossible.

He looked back at the vice captain, whose team had started moving towards the opposite side of the forest. He could clearly see that even if her rank was higher than him, he still had more experience when it was about the situation in the field. The situation wouldn’t always go as well as planned, or even go according to plan at all, that some improvisation to the plan wouldn’t be as bad as she had viewed.

Gil looked back at his own team and motioned for them to follow him as they started moving. He removed his rifle from his shoulder and held it as he started moving through the uneven terrain with his eyes scanning the area for any signs of the enemy. His finger sat on the weapon’s trigger as he was ready to aim and shoot anyone who dared to show themselves in front of him.

His blood was boiling in anger as the scene of the fire replayed over and over in his head, strengthening his desire for revenge. He wasn’t planning on running away on the sight of the enemy, no matter the numbers they were going to throw at him. He was going to take them out one-by-one, no longer caring whether or not they were on the same side of the murderers. If he could cut down their numbers enough, the true killers would show up, without a doubt.

* * *

Ciel had kept herself hidden as she scanned her surroundings using the scope of her sniper rifle. Her team of scouts had already gone ahead to the enemy camp stealthily, leaving her to secure an escape route. While the target camp she was assigned to would only have non-combatants on standby, she couldn’t let her guard down in case the enemy soldiers came back without warning.

The rustling sounds nearby had caught her attention and she pointed her rifle towards the direction where she believed the sounds had come from. Her shoulder tensed as she scanned the area once more, followed by the sound of the wind blowing the grass around her. Seeing that she was still on her own, she slightly lowered her rifle once more with her eyes still constantly watching the area.

Her gaze went back to the direction where she and her team had come from. From the information she got, she was sure to run into a few enemy soldiers as they were moving out from the direction of the camp. Yet for some reason, her team had a quiet walk towards the camp without issues. It almost felt like the enemy was also trying to avoid a conflict and let their empty camp be raided.

The sound of footsteps snapped her back from her thoughts and one of the scouts she had sent out returned with a salute, “Corporal! It looks like the enemy camp has been destroyed moments before we arrive!”

“Destroyed?” she repeated before looking over the scout’s shoulder to see the path leading towards the camp.

She could see that there were traces of footsteps on the slightly muddy path, but judging from the number of footsteps, she was certain that they came from the scouts. She followed the scout member into the camp, where the other scout members were present.

The vice captain looked around the camp and saw that the tents were already in a disastrous state. The members of her scouting team were spread out in the camp, checking for anything which could provide them some clues about what happened. From the state of the camp, it didn’t look like the incident happened longer than a few hours ago.

No members of the opposing army were found in the camp, with Ciel’s assumption being that they had left before the incident happened. Seeing as they didn’t encounter anyone on their way to the camp, the soldiers had most likely left much earlier than they expected.

More questions popped up in the vice captain’s mind as she saw footprints on one of the cliffs surrounding the camp. They were a little too big to be a normal person’s footprints and they were located on a place which people wouldn’t normally walk on.

Ciel approached the cliff for a closer look and then observed the camp’s state from her place. She could see a tent which had a different color compared to the other tents, but she was sure it wasn’t for medical purposes. There were a couple of broken poles right next to the said tent and objects which looked like chains around them.

The items the tent was hiding had made her curious enough that she started moving towards it, but the sound of gunshot from the distance had stopped her in her tracks. She turned to the direction where the sound came from and more gunshots were heard. She could clearly remember that her fellow team member should have been around that area and from the way he had acted before, he wasn’t in the right state of mind to prevent his team of scouts from being caught in the crossfire.

Ciel’s hands quickly reached for the fresh magazine she had with her and loaded it into her rifle. When she looked up at her team, she could see that they were looking at her for their next orders.

“I shall lead you back to our territory, but I won’t be able to lead you all the way back to the camp. There is something else I need to take care of.”

* * *

“Damn it!” Gil fired a shot with his rifle as his scope kept on stalking the escaping enemy soldiers. “Stop running, you cowards!”

He reloaded his rifle and looked back through his scope, seeing that the only thing to come into sight was just a tree with many bullet holes on it. He let out a frustrated sigh before looking back to the scout team he was supposed to lead, but the lack of human voices other than his made him wonder if they had hidden well enough not to be seen by him or run away to a safer area.

Gil lowered his rifle slightly and saw that none of his shots had landed on the enemy soldiers he had spotted a moment ago. He knew that chasing the running enemy wasn’t among his orders, but he couldn’t contain the rage he had anymore the moment he saw them. He started walking to check the situation around him, but none of the enemy soldiers were left behind for him to shoot down anymore.

He could clearly see that the uniform worn by the ones he encountered were the same as the one worn by the attackers on the previous day, but he didn’t have the intention to hold back his shots. He wanted the true killer to show up after he had finished the smaller mobs of the team, but there had been no signs of the so-called killers to show up.

Just as he let his guard down for a moment, the wind around the forest had changed as it was blowing harder than before. Rustling sounds of the grass could be heard around him as the air started becoming heavier and heavier. The ground started moving as he felt the presence of another living being in the area, but the shaking got worse and worse as he felt the presence getting closer and closer.

Gil quickly turned around with his rifle ready, meeting face-to-face with a big humanoid creature in the blue uniform he was so familiar with. It was the exact same one as he saw many years ago in the middle of that fire which killed his entire foster family, but he was more surprised to see the look of the humanoid giant standing in front of him.

The creature had three faces, the face of a woman in front and two faces of men on each of its head, which looked too familiar to the shocked cadet.

“W-What the heck…?” Gil’s hands started shaking as he tried aiming his rifle at the creature’s head, but he couldn’t pull the trigger after seeing the familiar faces he hadn’t seen in years, “Why… why do you have their faces?!”

The creature had ignored his questions completely and moved to land a powerful punch on him. Gil quickly jumped and rolled away to dodge, but the powerful impact had caused some rocks to fly towards him and scratched him. He ignored the minor wound he had as he looked up at the creature from the ground, still questioning the reason why the creature had the faces of his foster family being merged together.

He was sure that the people he knew were long gone, but he still couldn’t aim at the faces he recognized so much. He closed his eyes forcefully and held onto his rifle as he planned on shooting with his eyes closed so that he didn’t have to see himself shooting at the people dear to him. His fingers were still shaking as he was trying to pull the trigger once more, only to be stopped after hearing the creature call out to him in the mixed voice of the three people.

“Gil…”

Gil let out a yell as he forced himself to shoot, only for the bullet to land on the tree next to the creature. He continued the blind assault, burning through the bullets loaded in the magazine as the faces of his three important people were stuck in his head. His ears couldn’t hear his own yells anymore as he kept on shooting, only for his rifle to run out of bullets.

He noticed the clicking sounds his rifle was making and opened his eyes, looking face-to-face with the bloody humanoid mutant standing right in front of him. The first thing which came to his mind as he looked at the torn uniform was to grab another fresh magazine, but a different thought came to him when he looked at the familiar pale faces.

His hands were conflicted between holding on to the rifle tightly or to get another magazine from his pocket. They were shaking as he frantically tried searching through his pocket for some spare magazines with his eyes still glued onto the creature. His unstable hand had caused him to drop the object to the ground, leaving him a little more vulnerable to the creature’s possible attack.

He curled his fist, refusing to let the creature end him, and kicked it on the chest. The creature’s unstable posture had caused it to fall backwards, but it slowly rolled back into standing position once more. With his eyes still watching the creature’s passive movements, he tried searching for the magazine he had dropped before. He quickly grabbed and loaded it the moment he could get his hands on it before aiming once more, but the familiar faces of the creature still made him hesitate.

Gil lowered his rifle and looked up at the creature’s faces as it slowly made its way back to him. It had slow movement, which would have given him plenty of openings to strike, but he still couldn’t bring himself to attack someone he had cared about. Not even after it tried attacking him before.

He wished that he was just too tired from the lack of sleep and that he was just dreaming, but the pain from digging his nails into his hand told him that it wasn’t a dream. He tried raising his rifle to fire once more, to see that the creature was shot on the shoulder from a different direction.

After taking a deep breath, Gil regained his composure and watched the creature clutching on its bleeding shoulder. He turned to the direction where the bullet had come from, seeing a glimpse of silver blur moving from one tree to another. He was probably in trouble for going against his orders, but he still had something important to take care of first. That was, if he could try and aim at the creature once more.

* * *

“Is that everything they got?” Hiro asked in disappointment, “That was just far fewer than we fought yesterday!”

The three other members of Blood only stared at him silently as he laughed, seeing that the brunette was clutching the pole in the middle of the ship. Julius sighed in response to his attitude before looking around the ship, where the marines were cleaning up the mess from the small fight. It wasn’t as chaotic as the fight the day before, which made him feel that something was out of place.

The enemy soldiers he fought moments ago didn’t look like they were putting any effort to win the battle at all. In his eyes, it almost felt like they looked like they weren’t taking the battle too seriously. Shrugging them off when they weren’t putting everything on the line was easy enough, but it felt odd to win when the enemy wasn’t even trying. While he would want his country to win the war, he would bring the victory alongside the truth behind the war.

As the captain was lost in his thoughts and assumptions, the communicator in his ear started making some static noises before a familiar voice was heard, _“Lieutenant, I have just received an urgent message from Corporal Alencon.”_

“The vice captain?” Romeo, Nana, and Hiro turned to look at the captain at the mention of their vice captain. “Can you connect me to her, Private Bourgogne?”

“ _I’m very sorry, Lieutenant. The signal from the area in the forest is very weak for unknown reasons, so it’s impossible to do so,”_ Fran responded, accompanied by tapping sounds heard through the communicator. _“She requested for immediate backup to head for the area where Private McLane is assigned to. He is most likely fighting a powerful unknown assailant near his target camp, but she had managed to escort his team back to our territory.”_

Julius looked back at his curious team members for a moment before turning his attention back to the operator on the other side of the communicator, “We’re heading back soon, Private. We’ll head over to the site once we make it back to the dock.”

“ _I’m afraid waiting is not the best option. They have almost used up their supply of ammunition,”_ Fran added, _“I have contacted one of the jet pilots nearby to pick up one member of Blood to help them.”_

A sigh escaped the captain’s lips as he tried relaxing his tense shoulders and put a hand to his communicator, “Very well, I shall go and help–”

“I’ll go help them, Captain,” Julius turned to the side, seeing that the brunette was already standing by his side and saluted at him, “I think it’s best that I go and help. I’ve talked to Gil on the day before and I think all he needs right now is the help from a friend who knows a little more about his situation.”

The captain looked at Hiro, who didn’t look like he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He could say that while the brunette’s first impression wasn’t too good, he was slowly showing some good progress in his combat skills. Even if he was the captain, he felt that Hiro also possessed the skill to be a leader judging from how the brunette’s own positive change had a good impact on the other team members and how he had taken care of his teammates.

He believed that it wouldn’t be a problem to send Hiro ahead of the rest of the team. After all, he wasn’t going to fight on his own.

Julius gave Hiro a nod and turned to him with a confident smile, “Get your weapons ready, Kamui. The rest of the team will join you later.”

“H-Huh?!” Hiro looked at him in surprise, not expecting for the captain to instantly agree to his proposal.

A pat on his shoulder got his attention and Romeo was standing next to him with a big grin, “You better give that guy a good lecture for charging in on his own!”

Julius watched the two before Nana joined in as well, smiling in response to the brunette’s nod.

“I’m not going to let you guys down!”

* * *

Gil was panting as he was getting up from the ground, ignoring the wet grass on his uniform. His eyes were still avoiding the creature as he tried shooting, only to be met with more clicking sounds of his rifle. He grunted in frustration as he dug into his pockets for more magazines to be loaded, but his grip on the rifle tightened when he realized that he was only left with the last one.

He could see from the corner of his eye that the vice captain watched him as he loaded his last magazine. His scope was once again aimed at the creature, but his finger on the trigger was still shaking in his hesitation.

“McLane! Stand back and take cover!” Ciel ordered sternly before she fired a few times at the creature. “If you’re not in a condition to fight, return to the camp immediately!”

Gil glanced at the vice captain as she kept herself moving between the trees and sometimes stopping to shoot, but her sniper rifle couldn’t shoot continuously to deal quick damage. The best option to fight would be close combat with blades or long range with assault rifles like the one he had, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling of trying to shoot someone important to him.

He kept telling himself how the three had died years before in front of him and that he was seeking vengeance on their murderers. It was hard for him to see the identities of his foster family being merged together with the identities which resembled their murderers. It looked like them, but at the same time, it looked like the ones he had been wanting to hunt down for years.

Gil snapped back from his thoughts when he noticed that a big shadow loomed over him. He looked up to see the creature right above him, ready to crush him with its arms. Blood was dripping from the bullet wounds Ciel had created, but they were too small to affect it. He was too shocked to lift his own rifle and shoot, leaving himself open for the crushing blow, but the sudden movement in the wind had prevented the impact from hitting him.

“Stay back, ugly!”

The familiar brown hair came into sight as he stood in front of the falling creature. Hiro had stood in a firm stance with his sword right in front of him, ready to strike another blow.

When Gil took a closer look at the creature, it was clutching its fresh cut wound on its chest with its three faces showing pained expressions. The mixture of voices became more and more unfamiliar to him, slightly giving him the impression that the creature in front of him was nothing more than a monster. But another look on its faces, he could still see the three familiar faces.

“Are you okay, Gil?” The newcomer took the time to glance at him, frowning as he did so. “Don’t worry, the others are coming soon.”

It was just a minor scratch, so he was sure that he was physically fine. The problem would be his thoughts as he couldn’t really tell if he was facing an enemy or a mutant of the people whom he thought to be dead. He remembered the workshop burning down right in front of him, but he didn’t get the chance to confirm whether or not they were actually killed in the fire. The lack of information at that time made a small part of him want to believe that they survived somehow.

Gil looked back at the creature and took a deep breath as he shut his eyes. His head was trying to erase the faces he had seen, reassuring him that he wasn’t going to point his rifle on his foster family.

“Hiro!”

His eyes opened suddenly when he heard the vice captain yelling and the first thing he saw was the brunette trying to block an incoming punch with his sword. The creature’s strength was too strong for Hiro to handle that he was easily knocked away towards a nearby tree and the sight of the brunette’s pained look had sparked Gil’s anger.

The sight of the people he had come to care about being hurt was enough to release him the clouds of hesitance. The brunette was there when the others wouldn’t bother with him and he hadn’t got the chance to return the favor. He wasn’t going to let anyone take away his chance to repay for someone else’s kindness, not anymore.

Gil’s own will to prevent another precious comrade from falling in front of him again had strengthened his resolve to fight. He aimed for the creature and released a few shots towards its legs, preventing it from trying to approach the brunette. As it was trying to balance its body from the injury, Gil fired a few more shots on its back to distract it enough and get its attention.

“Your enemy is right here!” Gil called out to the creature before trying to reload his last round of bullets. “Have your own fill of bullets!”

The creature started charging towards Gil, ignoring the injuries it had sustained, trying to crush him with its big size. Hiro had seen the scene and charged in as the creature was only a few steps away from the older cadet, holding up his sword to stab it as it was coming down. The blade had slightly pierced its shoulders, stopping it in its tracks, allowing the older cadet to jump back and shoot at the creature.

Hiro quickly pulled his sword from its shoulder as it was moving backwards from the barrage of bullets Gil had shot, followed by critical shots aimed at the creature’s possible vital points from Ciel. The creature slowly lost its footing and gave up to the barrage of shots, but it was still alive as it was kneeling with bullet wounds all over its body.

Ciel was ready to shoot with another bullet loaded, indicated by the clicking sound coming from her direction. Hiro was ready to cut him down any time, when he saw the older cadet standing in front of the creature.

Gil stepped closer to the creature cautiously with his rifle still being aimed on its head. He stopped a few steps away from it and after a moment of silence, he lowered his rifle to the side. His actions had caused Ciel to try and shoot, but Hiro had already guessed what the older cadet was trying to do and waved his hands to motion for her to stop.

“Gil… kill… us…” the creature pleaded weakly as it tried looking up at the older cadet. “Don’t want… to hurt…”

Gil’s hold on his rifle tightened for a moment as he tried covering his face with his hat, “That night… you didn’t…”

The older cadet tried looking at the creature from the corner of his eye, seeing the wounded faces of the ones he had lost. He could feel his blood boiling as he saw its eyes, which were begging him to end its life, without being in full control of what it was doing. He could guess that they were merged into the creature and fought them against their will, which ended with the hope that he could put a stop to it.

He took another deep breath and closed his eyes as he single-handedly aimed the rifle at the creature once more.

“I promise… I’ll find whoever did this to you… Sorry…”

One last shot was fired from the rifle, echoing through the quiet forest.

* * *

Gil and Hiro were leaning against a tree, facing opposite directions. Ciel had just finished cleaning up Hiro’s wounds and was packing her medical supplies in silence. She had initially wanted to question the brunette about him trying to hinder her last shot, but the intended target had been taken down in the end. It was enough for her as the threat was eliminated, even if it had taken more time than she believed it should have.

Her gaze went over to the brunette as he sat in silence, not bothering to talk about unnecessary things to her as usual. She decided to leave the two men on their own to report as they were waiting for the rest of the team to arrive.

Hiro tried looking back at the older cadet behind him and saw that Gil was sitting still on his place.

“Hey, are you sure you’re okay?” the brunette asked with his gaze still aimed at the older cadet. “I mean… with all that happened before…”

He could hear Gil’s breathing from the other side of the tree, but he couldn’t see the expression on his face. He didn’t know what to say to him as he hadn’t caused the death of a close person directly, but he felt that he should’ve said something to him. After all, he was the only one in Blood who knew about Gil’s past and his actual reason for joining the army.

“I… I don’t plan on having anyone else getting hurt because of me,” Gil’s stern voice was heard from the other side. “They didn’t want to hurt anyone, just like me. I don’t really want to kill them after the things they did for me, but I know that it would hurt them more if I let them live as that thing.”

“So… that was your only choice… huh…” Hiro let out a sigh without knowing what else to say to him. “Sorry… for your loss…”

He could hear Gil’s chuckling from behind him and saw that the older cadet had already stood up, “You’re too soft, you know that?”

Hiro looked at him with an amused look, wondering why Gil was still smiling after he knew that he had taken the life of the people important to him. He got up as Gil approached him and put a hand on his shoulder, looking at him in the eye as his expression turned serious.

“That thing… was just a monster. The people I knew were already long dead,” he paused for a moment before patting Hiro’s shoulder a few times. “I’m not going to let the living people die just for the sake of the dead, so you better not die on us too.”

Hiro’s amused look turned into a smile before nodding, “Definitely. I don’t plan on dying soon, so don’t you worry about that!”

The older cadet responded with a silent nod and looked up at the top of the trees, where the sunlight was shining through the gaps of the pine leaves.

He was the one who ended up being his own foster family’s murderer and he would carry that sin into his grave, but he knew he wasn’t the only one who was at fault. They had been turned into a humanoid monster against their will and he would never forgive the one who did it to them. It was very likely that he wouldn’t be the only one to experience it, so he had resolved to hunt down the person who did it so that there wouldn’t be more people like him.

The two men turned to the side when they noticed the vice captain walking back towards them while wearing her usual stoic expression. She looked up at Gil, who had guessed what she was about to tell him.

“Your disobedience to your given orders is not without consequences, but your punishment for today’s behavior is to be discussed further with Captain Visconti,” she told him and stared at him for a moment as he avoided her eyes. “Is that understood, Cadet?”

Gil slammed his foot and saluted, with his eyes still looking straight ahead and not at her, “Yes, Ma’am!”

Ciel’s gaze turned to Hiro, who was surprised to see her steely gaze on him. Her look softened as she let out a sigh, knowing that he had rushed to their aid and put Gil back into fighting condition, even though he didn’t contribute much in the fight, “You… did a fine job, Cadet.”

A big and proud smile came over to the brunette’s face before giving her a salute, “I’m always happy to help!”

* * *

The Susano’o battleship had made it to the dock of the hidden camp, with the three remaining members of Blood getting off to head for the rendezvous point. The ship started moving once they had got off, ready to be deployed to another area.

Nana was enjoying some bread she had kept as they were moving in the forest, with Julius and Romeo moving slowly behind her. The captain was lost in his thoughts, almost completely ignorant to the team members he was supposed to lead presently. Romeo was walking stiffly with a pale face, unaware that his friend had suddenly stopped walking in front of him that he almost walked into her.

“H-Hey, why did you stop?” the blond complained about the abrupt stop of their track, only to be met by Nana’s curious eyes. “W-What is it?”

The young chef only gave him a stare and looked back and forth between him and the captain, “Why are you so quiet? Didn’t Ciel report that the enemy was taken care of already?”

“Yes, that is true,” Julius responded flatly. “I’ve told them to remain in the area so that we can perform a quick check for the reason behind the incident.”

Nana tilted her head in confusion, “What incident?”

“I’ll give the details after arriving there.”

Nana continued to stare at the captain, but unlike Romeo, he ignored her further questions and continued walking with Romeo by his side. She shrugged off Julius’ lack of will to respond as she continued eating away her snack while following the two men.

Julius took a quick glance back at Nana, whose attention was back on the food in her hands, and turned to Romeo, “That creature that Vice Captain reported before… was most likely related to the project as well, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Romeo responded with a nod. “I think I’ve read something like it in a few sections in that journal.”

“I see… Perhaps this war really isn’t an ordinary war after all…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end for this chapter. Writing this one is a struggle because of the block and I had to revise my writing playlist while hoping that the change of tunes can jog up my creativity. Still trying to find the right tunes to work, though...
> 
> And while I know I've mostly updated this story weekly, it's very likely that the progress will be slower next month. I'll try to keep this story updated as much as possible and I definitely have no plans on dropping it anyway. Also, I have to thank you guys for sticking around to read and show some appreciation to this story. See you guys in the next chapter!


	14. Conflicted Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see! It's been over a month since I last updated, mostly because of the NaNoWriMo taking up the writing time. But hey, I've finally managed to finish another chapter after taking a few days of break from the writing rush last month.
> 
> The chapter's a little shorter than usual because I decided to split the plot into two chapters instead of one. We'll see a bit more development with some flashback before Nana and Romeo joined the army together. Also, more characters to appear here!

_**Spirit of the Sky** _

_**Chapter 14 –** _ _**Conflicted Heart** _

It was in the middle of the day in the camp, with most soldiers still battling outside. Sounds of fighter jets in the gray sky could be heard every once and then, along with echoing gunshots and bombs in the distance. The war was still waging on, but a few other soldiers who were lucky enough would take their time to rest for lunch in hiding.

Romeo was sitting in front of the flickering campfire with a warm bowl of soup in his hands. He drank the entire bowl in a single gulp, satisfying his hunger after his whole morning spent on moving from place to place with the scouts. Nana’s cooking had always been his best motivation to do his job quickly, even if the fatigue in his body was slowing him down. Even if he did enjoy some home cooking after a tiring job, he didn’t think that it would be good for everyone if the chef kept on using the camp’s food stocks just to cook for him.

He turned to the chef in question, who was stirring a different soup menu beside him. She was too occupied with the food in front of her to notice him staring at her. They had been together since they were kids, living through the ups and downs of life with the loss of their parents in mind. His family did their best to take care of her as her mother had done the same with them when they were all alive, but he wasn’t the type of person who liked being a burden to anyone.

“Hey uh… Nana?” Romeo asked as he saw the chef dipping a wooden spoon for a taste test before she looked up at him with the spoon still on her mouth. “Won’t you be in trouble if you’re using to food stocks to cook for me all the time? I mean, I like your cooking, but there are times that we’re only given rations to eat on the go.”

Nana stared at him for a moment before removing the spoon from her mouth. Her smile came after and she responded with a shrug, “I don’t mind. You’re here to eat my cooking, so the food supply isn’t going to be wasted anyway.”

“That’s…” the blond tried responding, but Nana had turned back to her soup again, “… not really what I meant…”

The chef didn’t look too bothered as Romeo kept on staring at her while she was cooking. He knew that she was a big fan of both cooking and eating, but she was always excited to cook especially when he was the first one to say that he was hungry. He didn’t mind her cooking at all, but he was afraid that Nana would be in trouble just by trying to feed his hungry self.

All the things he recalled her doing for him was mostly cooking, which was basically the activity she was mostly seen doing the entire two months of war. It wasn’t that she was bad at fighting, it was just that rather than contributing to the battle with her inhuman strength, he saw that she wanted to use her skills to cook and satisfy the soldiers’ hunger and homesickness.

“Hey Nana,” Romeo started once more, getting her attention as she looked up from the smoking pot of soup. “I don’t think you’ve told me why you wanted to join the army. I’ve known you for years and I can tell that you don’t like hurting people even if it was by accident. So why did you decide to join the army anyway?”

Romeo’s question had silenced Nana and stopped her in the middle of stirring the soup. Her actions made him even more curious about her reasons, but he had a good guess of it in his head. He had wished that she would be the one to say it herself rather than having him point it out, which was why he asked her in the first place.

He looked at her closely as Nana moved her lips to speak. He watched as she took a deep breath before talking, but just as she was about to say anything, she was interrupted by a loud yelling from the distance.

“Hey! Get out of the way! I’m carrying an injured!”

The two turned to the main path of the camp, seeing a blur of black and brown passing by, surprising other passing soldiers. From the voice and the black uniform exclusive to their team, they couldn’t mistake Gil for anyone else.

Romeo went over to the main path to see whom Gil was carrying, seeing Hiro clinging to his back. One side of him wanted to laugh after seeing how silly they both looked and how Gil was almost in panic, but another side of him felt sorry for whatever injury Hiro had taken. He wanted to check up on his condition, but turned to see that Nana was still busy with her cooking.

The chef could see his concerns and gave him a smile, “Don’t worry! I’ll catch up with you guys later with a nice bowl of hot soup for our injured friend!”

He was still staring at her, making sure that it was fine to leave her out of his sight for a moment. Nana was aware of his worrywart nature when it was about her and gave him a thumbs up with a smile on her face. Romeo responded with a smile on his own before running towards the medical tent, where Hiro would most likely be treated.

Nana was watching even after Romeo was no longer within her sight before returning to the soup she was cooking. She let out a sigh as she recalled the day he made his reasons to join the army known to the few higher ups in the orphanage. His reason was obvious as she heard it as well, even though he had made sure that she never knew about it.

“ _I’m gonna join the army and I’ll send my monthly paycheck to help fund this orphanage! Nana doesn’t have to work in that place anymore when I can earn more as a soldier!”_

* * *

Romeo walked through the muddy path leading to the medical tent and saw the usual sight of injured soldiers coming out after their treatment. He excused himself into the tent and the familiar black uniform of Blood could be spotted easily on the deeper side of the tent. His teammate’s pained groans were heard louder and louder as he got closer, seeing that Hiro’s wounds were being inspected by the vice captain as he sat down on one of the medical beds.

“Why do you have this many bullet wounds on your back?” Ciel asked in disbelief before looking up at Gil. “What happened in the field, McLane? Shouldn’t there be only a single sniper around the post both of you are assigned to?”

The older cadet let out a sigh, “Well, you know him. He decided to take all the shots meant for me instead of taking the sniper down himself. It wouldn’t even take more than two shots on me for him to find and take the damn sniper down. Heck, maybe I won’t even need to take a single one if I can dodge all of the bullets in time!”

“ _If_ you can dodge them with a shot on your leg,” Hiro added, only to be followed by a pained yell the moment cold liquid touched his back. “Please be gentle! I want you to treat me with love and care, but not with pain!”

“I’m still cleaning your wound,” Hiro could feel her breathing on his skin as she let out a sigh. “None of the bullets got past your bulletproof vest, but you must know that a single shot from a powerful sniper rifle could pierce through your vest.”

Romeo joined the group as Ciel was scolding the injured brunette. Gil noticed the extra person in the group, but didn’t feel bothered as Romeo stood by his side as they watched Hiro being treated. The silly expressions he made as he cried out in pain over having his wounds cleaned made the two men laugh, which annoyed the brunette in return. His protests were soon silenced with another stinging pain on his back, though it didn’t last as long as the previous ones.

Hiro let out a tired sigh as the vice captain worked on bandaging his injured back as the brunette faced his two other teammates. Gil let out another sigh after seeing the brunette’s suffering, even if it was a funny one to watch, “Seriously, what were you thinking when you kept jumping in front of me when I could still take care of myself? That bullet only scratched my knee and I could still move around just fine!”

He gave the older cadet a grin as he looked at both of his companions, “The pain is bad, yeah, but at least I’ve got a pretty woman to take care of my wounds!”

Hiro’s casual comment made Romeo break into laughter with Gil on his side slapping his bandaged back in a joking manner. The rough touch made the brunette wince in pain once more, followed by a pain on his stomach from having his bandaged tied too tightly. He turned to the vice captain while expecting to see her embarrassed by his comment, only to see her putting the leftover bandages and her medical tools back into the aid kit without a word.

Ciel went out of the tent without another word, meeting Nana as she was leaving. She was carrying a bowl of hot soup with her bare hands, most likely for her injured subordinate she had just treated.

“Is… is he going to be okay?” Nana asked worriedly.

The vice captain responded with a nod, but her expression remained stoic, “Yes. The wounds are minor, but they would become troublesome if they got infected. McLane has done the right decision by bringing him back as soon as he possibly could.”

The chef nodded in return, watching the vice captain as she walked away in a quick pace without another word. Nana got curious about what happened in the tent which made the vice captain want to leave in such a rush. Seeing as Ciel was the type of person who wouldn’t tolerate someone for being late, she guessed that she had an urgent task to take care of that she had to leave quickly.

Nana went into the tent for a quick moment, dropping in to deliver the soup to Hiro while checking up on him. The hushed snickering coming from Gil and Romeo got her curious for a moment, but she had to go back quickly to help preparing more lunches for the returning soldiers. She took a note to herself to ask Romeo about it as she went out of the tent once more, only to have it forgotten completely when she encountered the team captain outside.

“Private Kozuki. Perfect timing,” Julius stopped on his way to the deeper section of the camp, “Once everyone has finished with their lunch, would you mind coming to my tent with Private Leoni and Private Kamui?”

“Huh?” Nana wasn’t expecting the sudden call from the captain, “Did something happen, Captain?”

The captain shook his head, “Nothing in particular. I just need to brief the three of you for a survey mission tomorrow.”

“But…” her gaze fell on the medical tent she had just left, “Hiro got injured on his job today and I don’t know if he’s going to be ready for another one tomorrow…”

Julius looked over at the tent as well, seeing that Hiro was talking with Gil and Romeo inside as he had his soup, “He should be fine tomorrow, so there’s no need to worry. I believe it’s Romeo whom I’m more concerned about, so I’m going to ask you to watch over him.”

Nana watched the captain as he left her without another word. While it was nice to hear that the captain was being so optimistic about Hiro, was it even possible for bullet wounds to heal completely within a single night?

* * *

It was nighttime and the sky was far more peaceful compared to the afternoon sky, which was filled with smoke from the jets and burning lands. The moon was nowhere to be seen just like how the stars were missing as well, making the night sky entirely in a blank state.

Nana was lying down in the tent she shared with Ciel, but the vice captain hadn’t returned to the tent just yet. She lied on her side, facing the empty space which was the vice captain’s side of the tent, with Romeo’s question popping up in her head once more.

“ _Why did you decide to join the army?”_

She let out a sigh as the memory of months previously came back into her mind. The memory of how she found out that Romeo was leaving to risk his life in the battlefield without letting his own best friend know about it.

* * *

“You bet I’m serious!”

Nana could hear Romeo’s voice coming from the orphanage’s young director’s room, which was located a couple of rooms away from the kids’ play room where she was. She looked back at the clean and tidy room proudly before closing the door as she headed for the director’s room out of curiosity.

She stopped in front of the old and worn door, but stopped herself from opening it when she heard Romeo’s voice once more.

“I’m gonna join the army and I’ll send my monthly paycheck to help fund this orphanage! Nana doesn’t have to work in that place anymore when I can earn more as a soldier!”

Why the sudden interest in the army? She knew that Romeo wasn’t a fighter, so hearing the declaration from him was a surprise to her. Especially when he mentioned about her working, when she didn’t even mind working in the place she knew he meant.

“Director Tatsumi! Vice Director Brendan! Please let me do my part after you guys did everything to take care of us all!”

Romeo’s loud voice could still be heard clearly even when Nana wasn’t trying to eavesdrop on purpose. The mention of her made Nana a little more curious as she put her ear on the old door. There was a moment of silence before she could hear the sounds of footsteps walking around in the room.

“That’s… kind of a good idea, but…” Tatsumi’s voice was heard just as the sound of footsteps stopped. “what about Nana? Surely I know that it’s for her, but as the friend who knows you the longest, I don’t think she’s gonna like it when you’re out there risking your life.”

Romeo’s loud sigh was heard, “I know… that why I want you guys to keep it a secret from her.”

“I don’t completely disagree with your proposal, seeing as we can use some extra funds to keep this orphanage running,” Brendan’s voice was heard next. “I don’t like to be the nosy one, but shouldn’t the money mostly go to your aunt as your last living relative?”

“No, I don’t want someone who doesn’t treat me like a family to use the money I will earn from my hard work!” Romeo responded sternly. “The people here are more like a family than my biological one is. I want to help the family I have here in any way I can.”

Nana’s hands on the door slowly curled into a fist. She knew that he was trying to shoulder his burden alone, when she was also there to help the orphanage as well. She was a little sad that despite being friends for many years, he wasn’t willing to ask for her help. He was just going to do it on his own even if the burden was also hers as they were both raised in the same orphanage after Romeo lost his parents too.

“Well, who do we have here?” a feminine voice coming from behind had surprised Nana, enough for her to almost jump as she turned around. “Are you trying to eavesdrop on the director’s meeting?”

“G-Gina! Please not so loud!” Nana put her hands together with a panicked look, “I don’t want them to know that I was here!”

Gina took a look at the door behind Nana with her uncovered eye and smiled as she fixed the position of the laundry basket she was carrying, “I guess you’ve finally heard about Romeo wanting to join the army too, huh?”

“Y-You know about it too…?” Nana asked in a whisper, hoping that her voice couldn’t be heard from inside the director’s room.

Gina gave her a nod, “Yes, I guess everyone but you know about it until now.”

Nana looked at her sadly, feeling hurt that Romeo was keeping secrets from her. She looked back at the door before walking away from the door in hopes of being unnoticed by the people on the other side of the door. Gina followed her as well, with the two of them ending up in the laundry room instead.

The chef looked around the area outside cautiously and when she felt that the coast was clear, she let out a relieved sigh before returning to the room with Gina. When she looked at her, the older woman had a grin on her face.

“Are you thinking of joining the army too, without him knowing?” Nana gasped in surprise, which prompted Gina to chuckle. “You’re really easy to read among us women, aren’t you? The two of you have been together since you were both kids.”

Nana gave the older woman a look, realizing that she was true about it. Maybe Romeo and the other boys wouldn’t know why she would stick around to help with kitchen duties when she already had job offers to become a chef. The girls’ side of the orphanage, however, knew that she wanted to stay by Romeo’s side and to take care of him as his family had been to her.

She nervously lowered her head, looking like she had been caught doing something she shouldn’t have, “Are you… going to stop me?”

“Why would I?” Gina responded with another question before putting the laundry basked on the ground as she started taking out washed clothes and putting them into the basket. “If what Karel and Shun said about women not being welcomed there, I guess I should warn you instead of banning you from joining entirely.”

Nana looked at her in confusion. She expected that Gina, along with the other women in the orphanage, would be against her leaving for the army. Kitchen duties required a lot of work as they had to feed so many orphans at once and it was already with from the number of helping hands they currently had. If she wasn’t there to help, the other women would have their hands full with meal times when they still had other chores to handle.

Gina stopped pilling clean clothes into the basket and let out a loud sigh, getting the chef’s attention, “I would really love to get out there in the battlefield sometime too, sniping down anyone who dares to attack our beloved country. But when those two used that excuse just to get bigger salary from more workload to handle, I guess I kinda decided to be a competitive sniper instead, winning trophies, awards, and money to keep this place running.”

Nana watched Gina as she resumed her activities on the laundry, but her face didn’t look like she was showing any signs of regrets. The older woman had always been unpredictable to her, so she wasn’t sure if Karel and Shun were her actual excuse for giving up her intention to join. If she could guess what Romeo would say, he would most likely tell her to stay as it was safer for her in the orphanage, but she was starting to doubt if that was his actual reason.

Now that she started doubting him, she felt that it was even truer as she was no longer a good friend for him.

The sound of footsteps snapped her back to reality and she saw the color pink popping out from outside the room, “Gina! Nana! Do you want to join me in my room for some cookies and tea?”

“Ah, Kanon!” the chef greeted her with a smile. “Sounds great, but I need to prepare some food for dinner in just a sec!”

“Huh?” Kanon was looking at her in confusion. “I thought that it’s my turn to cook tonight.”

Of course! Her mind had been occupied with the issues between her and Romeo about joining the army that she had completely forgotten that she was scheduled to cook for the next day. It wasn’t too much of a big deal as Kanon simply laughed at her carelessness, but she didn’t mind pitching in to help with either cooking or getting the ingredients from the storage house.

* * *

It was a peaceful break in the afternoon, with the voices of children running around to play being heard through the thin walls of Kanon’s room.

The three women sat around a small round table, where a plate of cookies and hot tea were being served. Nana didn’t hesitate to take the cookies, which were fresh from the oven, enjoying every bite of it.

“Oooh! Your cookies are always the best, Kanon!” Nana commented excitedly before she devoured another one from the plate.

The pink-haired woman laughed as she took a sip of her tea, “I can make more for you if you want. I happened to have some extras when the children asked for some snacks.”

“She will gladly take it all even if you use the entire stock we have,” Gina added with a chuckle and pointed at the chef, who was busy enjoying the warm snack. “That was, if she decides not to join the army.”

Her comment had stopped Nana from eating away the whole plate, with her smile slowly turning into a frown. She avoided Kanon’s gaze when she tried looking at her, knowing that Kanon would be the one affected the most if she left the orphanage. After all, both of them were in charge of cooking for the orphanage children and cooking for that many of them wasn’t an easy task.

“I’m sorry…” Nana whispered as she put her hands together on her lap. “I… I was thinking selfishly when I said that I wanted to join the army, but I… I still don’t know what I should do…”

The room went silent for a moment, but to Nana, it felt like the silence went on for hours. Nobody said anything to her and it made her feel like she was going to betray the orphanage which had taken care of her and Romeo for years. She wanted to go with him as she wanted to help him from his side, but at the same time, she wanted to repay all the kindness the people of the orphanage had given her as well.

As the world around her slowly turned into void, Nana felt a warm touch on her hands. She looked at her lap and saw Kanon’s hand on top of hers, squeezing them tightly in a comforting manner. She raised her head to face Kanon as the older woman released her hands.

“I know I’ll miss having some extra pair of hands in the kitchen, but I guess it won’t be right to hold you here when your heart wants to be somewhere else,” Kanon gave her a warm smile. “Don’t worry, I can still manage the cooking all by myself.”

Nana looked at the pink-haired woman in front of her, whose eyes reassured her that everything was still going to be fine without her. She had fun cooking together with Kanon and seeing the children enjoying what they made was worth all the effort. Even outside cooking, she was still the one to depend on to move around crates of cooking ingredients when the men were too busy with other things. If she was missing from the orphanage, who would be the one to take over her tasks?

The eyes from the competitive sniper and the fellow chef were on her, expecting her to do what she wanted to do. She knew them well enough not to think that they were trying to push her out of the orphanage as they were trying to help her as everyone had always done. Whatever she decided herself would be for the sake of gratitude for the people who helped her all those years. The problem would be which people she would be paying her debts to, between Romeo who had helped her through her tough childhood days or the orphanage caretakers who had provided her a home when she and Romeo had nowhere to go.

“Well, what do you say?” Gina was the one to break the silence in the room. “If you want to go and sign up for the army, I can teach you a bit about sniping and maybe a few things about military stuff that Shun and Karel had told me.”

Nana didn’t respond and instead, she turned to Kanon who nodded in agreement, “I don’t think I’m good at fighting, but I can teach you a few useful recipes you can use to make nutritious meals for some extra energy boost!”

The chef let out a sad smile, which slowly turned into a genuine smile. Whether the men or the women in the orphanage, they had always been a very helpful group of people even when they were struggling financially. They always looked after each other, much like how she and Romeo would before they found themselves in the orphanage. Each of them had different personalities, which could sometimes lead into arguments, but she had never sensed anything seriously hostile as the arguments felt like typical arguments between siblings.

Maybe she never had a brother or a sister, but being with them felt like she was with a complete family. The family warmth they had was similar to the warmth of her late mother and how it felt when she was still with Romeo’s deceased family. She didn’t want to leave that comfort zone of hers, but at the same time, she wanted to go and help Romeo as well, even if she had no combat experience.

“I… I’ll think about it a little more…” Nana rose from her seat before looking back at Kanon and Gina with a smile. “None of us know how to fight, so even if we sign up for the army, I don’t know if we’re just going to get accepted right away…”

Gina folded her arms and smiled at her, “True, but it’s not like you to get so negative, Nana. I do believe that you two can have a better chance this time around because of the lack of interest coming from people around our age.”

“I agree,” Kanon nodded in agreement. “But still, don’t you worry about us! Both Tatsumi and Brendan are going to make sure the orphanage stays alive so that you guys can have a home to return to when the war is over!”

“You guys…”

“Besides,” Gina added and slightly tilted her head, “you know Romeo. Nobody here but you can put him on a leash. If you’re there, you can at least watch over him and make sure that he doesn’t do anything too reckless.”

Nana responded with a nod, “Yes! But I’ll still think things over before I decide to sign up. Thank you guys so much for the support!”

The chef had excused herself from the room with the first intention to come to her mind being that she was telling Romeo about it. She suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway, thinking that her blond friend would quickly stop her from joining in. Perhaps it was best to keep him from knowing until she was officially accepted, while hoping that he would be accepted as well.

Maybe her decision was already there the moment she stepped out of Kanon’s room. She only needed to think about what she needed to do to repay all the kindness being given to her all those years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next part is coming soon, hopefully next week as always!


	15. Doing What I Can Do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back with another (late) update! The continuation of the previous chapter is here and while Nana is mostly the star of the chapter, Romeo is squeezing in for his share of the spotlight too. And there's still a couple of surprise guests appearing here, but I don't think it's too hard to guess when the hint is in the previous chapter.

Darkness.

It was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. She couldn’t remember when she fell asleep, but all she remembered before she blacked out was her old memories from the orphanage. She wasn’t physically tired as she was in charge of cooking and helping out in the camp for the entire day. Maybe it was because she was doing the things she enjoyed that she didn’t realize that the fatigue was slowly catching up to her.

Nana rolled to the side in her sleeping bag, just in time for a small ray of light to hit her face. The sleeping bag next to her was empty, but the occupant was already standing in front of the tent with her hand still holding onto the covering cloth. From the shadows cast onto the tent, she didn’t stand outside on her own.

“Go get some rest now, okay?” Nana recognized the male voice to be Hiro’s, but his shadow was barely visible. “If you need anything, just say the word and I’ll come running with your request!”

Ciel let out a sigh before stepping into the tent, blocking most of the moonlight, “This is nothing. I have taken care of more soldiers in a single day before and I can still work on other reports at night.”

The chef held back a chuckle after hearing what the conversation was about. The brunette’s crush on the vice captain wasn’t a secret as his flirting acts were pretty much done publicly. While his flirting had been reduced because they were in the war zone, Hiro didn’t stop caring about her well being. The way he doted on Ciel reminded her of how Romeo was being a worrywart about her.

“We all need to rest too, Ciel,” Hiro addressed the vice captain casually. “I mean, I know that you’re good at a lot of things, but I don’t want you to push yourself too hard. The best soldiers are still people and people need time to wind up and relax.”

Ciel let out another sigh as she tried closing the tent cover, but the brunette held the cloth and stopped her attempt to keep him shut, “You’d better listen to your own words. Your injuries need to heal before your assignment tomorrow, but you are wasting your own resting time to walk me back to my tent.”

“They don’t hurt anymore after you treated me with love and care,” the brunette grinned at her and gently removed her hand from the tent’s cloth. “You did all you could to help me, your subordinate, so I’m repaying the favor to you. Besides, I care about you too, Ciel…”

The vice captain paused for a moment in response to Hiro’s softer voice at the end. Her face was hidden from his eyes under the shade of her bangs as she gently covered the tent, “You should get some rest as well. I’ve applied some medicine to your wounds and it will work better if you let your body rest more.”

Her soft tone had replaced her initial stern one, which had caught the brunette off guard. Ciel had already closed the tent on his face and only let a small line of light come through between the small space between the cloths. His vague shadow was still visible from the inside as he stood still for a moment before slowly walking away, presumably back to his own tent.

Nana’ attention went to the vice captain as she made her way to the strategy board on her side of the tent. She turned on the small lamp above the board, illuminating the board’s contents for her to see. The brightness didn’t bother the chef as she turned to face the vice captain. The shuffling sound of her movement inside the sleeping bag caught Ciel’s attention before the vice captain shifted her focus from the board in front of her.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” Ciel asked softly. “Hiro’s loud voice before must have−”

“Nah, I’m okay,” Nana sat up and gave her a smile in response. “I woke up just a bit before you two arrived.”

The vice captain sighed in relief, though slightly, before she put her focus back on the board. Or at least, she tried to, but her blue eyes gave off a different feeling rather than her usual stoic and stern look. Compared to their first meeting months previously, Nana felt that Ciel had changed in a positive way and that she acted more like a person with emotions rather than a doll who would obey any orders.

Seeing as she knew which person Ciel had been spending most of her time with, Nana could figure out the person who had influenced her attitude the most.

“Hiro cares a lot about you, huh?” Nana hugged her legs as she gave the vice captain a smile. “He cares a lot about us, but I think he pays more attention to you.”

Ciel’s hand stopped at one of the notes on the board when she heard what the chef said. Months ago, the vice captain would quickly deny that fact and accused him of trying to get closer just because of her position. Her words were stern and loud enough for the entire team to hear on a daily basis, which was something Nana could remember very well. It was only recently that the accusations came into a stop, even if the two of them didn’t look like they were that much different towards each other.

The chef could see that Ciel’s eyes were filled with confusion. She knew about the vice captain’s rough past and about how hard it was to talk with her as a person and a friend. Ciel was starting to be more open, often a little curious about various casual topics the team was talking about. It was starting to become more and more apparent that she was trying to fit into the team and she was learning to get along with the others.

She was left in one kind of relationship that she still struggled to understand and her confused look gave it away every time that kind of topic came up.

“I can still manage everything by myself without him being involved, so having him around more than necessary becomes more of a nuisance than being helpful,” Her tone wasn’t as stern as she usually would as she slowly moved her hand across the board, “Although… this is the first time I have someone who would care about me for who I am and not what my rank is.”

Nana’s chuckle caught the vice captain’s attention and she turned to look at the chef, “He kinda reminds me of Romeo in a way, but Romeo doesn’t do it openly like Hiro does. At least, not always…”

“Aren’t you…” Ciel stopped her questioning for a moment and turned back to the board. “Do you think that he is being bothersome, trying to check on you when you don’t feel that it is necessary?”

Nana tilted her head in confusion as she kept looking at the vice captain.

“W-What is it?” Ciel started to look nervous with the chef staring at her. “Did… did I ask something I shouldn’t have?”

Nana shook her head, “No, it’s just… Shouldn’t you be happy when you finally have someone who would think and care about you? I know I’m happy to have Romeo being worried about me because he shows that he cares about me. Aren’t you happy to have someone who cares about you for who you are?”

“To have someone… who cares about me for who I am…?” Ciel repeated in a whisper.

The chef watched her for a moment, seeing as the vice captain was left staring at the board instead. Knowing her, she was most likely trying to think things through when it wasn’t even necessary to think too much. Unlike the rest of the team, Ciel wasn’t too knowledgeable about things outside military-related issues. Being a friend and a teammate of hers, Nana was willing to push the vice captain into the right direction.

She decided to leave the vice captain to think while trying to do whatever it was she was planning on the strategy board. Nana had rolled to face the opposite direction as she was going back to sleep, but noticed the disappearance of the light from the board. The rustling sound coming from behind her back told her that Ciel decided to get into her sleeping bag instead of continuing her work.

Nana felt a little too excited as she realized that for the first time since she joined the team, she had a topic she was more familiar with compared to Ciel. She was a little jealous for a moment when she knew someone her age had accomplished more than most adults had, but she was finally given the chance to be able to teach the vice captain something new. This was probably the kind of feeling that older siblings had about teaching their younger siblings.

* * *

The sound of waves could be heard as the battleship bearing the Susano’o flag moved through the vast sea. The members of the navy were pacing around the ship on a patrol duty, even if their surrounding environment was peaceful. They were still at war and an unusually peaceful moment was something they should be suspicious about. The fact that the ship was far from the chaos of the battles made the sounds of gunshots and bombing unheard from their position.

While the navies were busy with the roles assigned to each of their posts, the group of three soldiers in black uniform stood out among the regular military uniform of Susano’o. One of them was crouching by the cabin door, looking up at the sky desperately, while the other two were trying to comfort him.

“Am I cursed to always be assigned to patrol on another battleship?” Hiro asked flatly while his eyes were still glued on the clouds in the blue sky. “Or is this some sort of joke to put me in a place I fear the most?”

Nana and Romeo stood by his side as they weren’t sure what else they should do to help him. Hiro looked calm enough when his attention was directed on the sky instead of the sea around them, but their job wasn’t to watch the sky’s condition.

The blond cadet patted Hiro’s shoulder before squeezing it in an attempt to make him forget about the fact that they were surrounded by water. His gesture only caused him to jolt in surprise and momentarily divert his attention to the sea. Hiro quickly shut his eyes the moment he saw the water around him, preventing him from having more thoughts about drowning.

“I-I’m not gonna look! I can watch the clouds all day and this survey mission will go in a blink of an eye!” The brunette spoke up a little louder than necessary, getting the attention of other nearby navies.

With a few extra pairs of eyes set on the group of three, Romeo quickly took over the conversation, “W-Well, there’s also the possibility of an aerial attack too, right?”

The blond watched as the navies stared back at him. The silent stare they were giving him was making things a lot more awkward than it should, but he felt that it was because of his own less than satisfactory track record in combat. Thankfully enough, the staring came into a stop and Romeo let out a relieved sigh.

“Man… that felt really weird…” the blond commented before turning his attention back to his brunette teammate, who still had his eyes closed. “Sorry I can’t help much… The captain told us that missions like this should somehow help you overcome your fear of drowning…”

Hiro refused to respond as he kept his eyes shut. In a way, he was glad that the vice captain wasn’t assigned to the same mission as well. He still needed to keep his image in front of her and covering for his drowning fear was not an easy task to do. Even if she had already found out about it in a bad moment, he wasn’t going to let her see him shuddering in fear. He didn’t hold back on his fears with the others as he trusted them enough not to report unnecessary things to the vice captain.

“Hey Nana, any ideas to keep him calm even in the middle of the sea like this?” the brunette could hear Romeo’s voice as his hand left his shoulder.

Hiro stood still as he refused to cooperate, until his nose picked up the scent of food in front of him. Knowing the chef, he expected Nana to lure him to open his eyes with food, but he wasn’t going to eat when it wasn’t the time. The smell was as good as always, but he had enough to eat to keep him from feeling hungry.

The smell went away and when he tried peeking, he saw that Nana had already devoured whatever it was she was trying to offer him.

“Hey!” Romeo’s loud voice was heard and it caused Hiro to quickly close his eyes once more.

There was a moment of silence and some whispering that he couldn’t hear clearly before he heard the sound of footsteps going away.

* * *

It was too quiet and peaceful, even if they were on top of a battleship, as they were supposed to be at war with another country. He would surely be glad if he could avoid any conflicts, but he expected to be involved in one if the ship was in the enemy territory.

Romeo looked around the ship’s deck as a couple of navies were checking the area through their binoculars. What made him a little suspicious was the extra navy loitering around the deck when he could recall that only two were stationed at the deck. The extra soldier was wearing the same uniform as the others, which gave him the information that he was also a part of the Susano’o military.

What made him feel a little suspicious would be how the soldier was watching their every movement since boarding the ship.

The blond kept him under constant watch as Nana was busy trying to get Hiro to open his eyes with her freshly-made oden sandwich. The soldier was still pacing back and forth before pretending that he was helping out the others on watch duty. When he looked back at the group, Romeo was also watching his movements that their eyes met for a split second before the soldier suddenly broke into a run towards the inner section of the ship.

“Hey!” Romeo’s shout had caught the other navies’ attention, though none of them moved from their posts.

Nana had also stopped from her attempt on trying to tempt Hiro with food and turned to him with a confused look. Her curious eyes on him were enough to let him know that she was wondering what he was up to. He took a quick glance at the direction the soldier had run off to before he approached her.

“Stay here, okay? I need to check on something,” Romeo whispered before turning his attention back to the path to the inner section of the ship.

Nana wasn’t given the chance to respond as Romeo had already run off into the ship. She was left with the brunette, as he still refused to calm down and look around the ship.

She knew that she couldn’t leave him behind when he was deathly afraid of drowning, even if the ship wasn’t moving around too much. At the same time, she felt a little worried about Romeo running off like that. Almost every time he told her to stay back, he ended up coming back with all sorts of trouble following him.

But the serious look on his face before he left told her that she should trust him this time.

* * *

Romeo had made it into the inner hallways of the ship, though he had lost track of the suspicious soldier. He could hear footsteps everywhere as the floor was made out of metal and that there were a few ally navies patrolling the indoor area. There were also too many doors to check if he wanted to, hoping that the culprit could make himself known to him easily enough.

His wish was granted almost instantly, as he startled by the sound of gunshot echoing in the hallways. The loud sound had caused the atmosphere of the indoor area to grow tense, accompanied by footsteps as the navies were either trying to find the source or grab a weapon for combat. He had the same thing in mind as he was basically unarmed, but he was a little too far from the location of the weapon storage room.

As he took quiet steps through the hallway, Romeo grew more and more nervous. His palms were starting to sweat as he left sweaty palm prints on the metal wall as he walked. He wasn’t completely sure where the culprit might have been, but the gunshot from before gave him a clue about the best possible location.

The blond picked up his pace before ending up in front of the control room. He didn’t think twice and pushed the metal door, with a horrifying sight waiting for him on the other side.

Romeo froze at the door when he saw a pool of blood. The lifeless body of the ship’s helmsman was lying on the pool of red liquid, right below the steering wheel. The unmanned wheel was spinning randomly, causing the ship to move uncontrollably.

The blond fell backwards from the movement, but it also caused the soldier he was looking for to reveal himself from behind the door. He was struggling to stand still while trying to reach the wheel, but Romeo had already spotted him on the act. The two of them stared at each other for a moment before they ended up in a wrestling match to gain control of the ship.

“Stop… struggling… you… Shady Guy!” Romeo used his own weight to try and pin the soldier down, but he was easily knocked away across the room.

The soldier took the rifle sitting next to the wheel and aimed at him, but the ship’s movement caused his shot to miss and hit the ceiling instead. Romeo took the opening as a chance for him to take the soldier’s rifle from his hands, but the soldier kept on struggling to try and throw him once more. The attempt failed as the blond pulled the back of his shirt as he slid off the soldier’s back, though he was still left empty-handed to fight him.

* * *

Sea water started pouring into the ship as it kept on tilting to the sides. The navies on duty struggled to move as they were trying to head for the indoor area of the ship. They would constantly trip from the wet floor or the angle of their footing, losing balance almost immediately after they stood up.

While the navies were struggling to figure out what was going on, the brunette cadet had crouched down in fear as the ship was tilting left and right. Nana was still by his side with her uniform and hair drenched from the splashing water, trying to comfort him. Her efforts didn’t affect him at all as he wasn’t even looking at her.

The chef looked around in the middle of the chaos and her eyes landed on the glass covering the control room on the upper deck. A blur of familiar blond color was visible and was moving around. She eyed the room curiously before she was surprised by the sight of her best friend being pinned to the glass.

“Hiro! Romeo needs help!” Nana called out worriedly.

Hearing no response from the brunette, she checked on him to see that he was still trying to hold the wall behind him. His attitude had changed a little at the mention of the blond, but the look of fear was still apparent in his eyes. She watched his movement as his slightly shaking hand landed on the hilt of the sword strapped to his waist.

“I-I’m good…” he reassured her before taking a deep breath and turning to face her. “Come on, we need to get to Romeo and fast!”

Nana was still worried about him forcing himself against his fear, but it couldn’t be helped when the hammer she was using as a weapon was in the storage room. He gave her a nod and a pat on the shoulder before taking one last look at the struggle on the other side of the viewing glass. It was clear to them that Romeo needed help as he wasn’t too good in fighting.

Both of them dashed through the deck and to the indoor area of the ship. Knowing that their destination was the control room made it easier to navigate through the hallways. The only hindrance in their path would be the ship’s random movement.

The sounds of struggle were heard louder and louder and they tried moving, ending up in front of the opened control room door. Inside the room, Romeo and another soldier dressed in an ally military uniform were rolling on the floor as they tried pushing the other away while trying to reach the spinning wheel. The two ran inside just as the wheel spun to one side for a full and high speed turn to knock all four of them to the ship’s control panel.

Romeo was quick enough to reposition himself and stand up, just in time for the soldier to stand up as well. The moving ship was making it harder for him to stand still, but his attention was fully directed at the soldier as he calmly stood in front of him. He noticed that he was aiming his rifle, but the soldier’s target clearly wasn’t him when he followed the direction of the aim to the spot behind him.

The blond noticed that he was aiming at his two comrades, who were still unaware of the incoming shot their way. Before they had the chance to look, a bullet was already fired and all the blond could do in a split second was to jump between them and the bullet. The sound of the gunshot managed to get the two’s attention, but Romeo had taken the bullet meant for them as it landed on his leg.

“Romeo!” Nana worriedly ran over to his side, unaware that the soldier still had his rifle ready.

Hiro had joined their side as well, but not before he tackled the soldier and made his next shot hit the wall instead. He drew his sword as the soldier was trying to get up and reach for his rifle, but the brunette had stepped on it before the soldier could pick his rifle up. His drawn sword was pointed at his face, but the moving ship had knocked him off balance before the soldier tripped him and got his rifle back.

Nana was watching the whole scene as she helplessly clutched onto Romeo’s shirt. When she looked at him, her friend looked pained as he was holding his shot leg and blood was starting to seep out of his pants. The black uniform he was wearing made the color of blood invisible, but the chef was sure that her friend was bleeding as he was trying to protect her and Hiro.

Her mind raced through her old memories of the many times she was protected by the people she cared about, only to have them lose their lives. She didn’t want anyone else to die protecting her, but she wasn’t even sure if she had what it took to fight off enemies or at least survive on her own. She only knew how to cook and she never had proper combat training before joining the army. Fear of losing more people who were precious to her came back to haunt her, but only for a short moment until Romeo held her shoulder.

The blond’s eyes still had pain in them, but he was looking at her with a smile as he gave her a thumbs up, “I’m still alive and this shot is nothing to be worried about!”

It was his trademark smile, which always worked in driving her worries and fears away. Others would think that it was just a bluff and a goofy smile, but she had known him for a long time and she recognized the sincerity behind that smile. He might be in pain, but he was still willing to bear with it for anyone, no matter if he knew them or not. For that one moment, he was doing it for her as he usually would when her initial intention was actually to help him.

A loud thud snapped the chef back to reality as the ship started tilting once more. Her attention shifted to the source of the voice, finding that Hiro was wrestling with the soldier as his sword was met with the soldier’s rifle. She took another look at Romeo, who then pointed at the struggling brunette with his chin.

“Don’t worry about me! You need to help him!” the blond told her confidently. “There’s no way I’m dying here!”

Another loud thud was heard and Hiro was on the floor with the soldier gaining the upper hand as he trapped the brunette under his rifle. He tried pushing back in response as he turned to the chef, who was still left staring at him, “Nana! Take the wheel!”

“Eh?” the chef pointed at herself in confusion as the two soldiers in front of her continued their fight.

Nana turned around to look at the control panel, which had too many controls and screens she never knew about. She turned to Romeo as he was looking at the ship’s controls as well, seeing as he was more knowledgeable than her. His instructions were cut short before he even started as the ship started tilting to the other side with the wheel spinning rapidly.

She had grabbed the wheel right when it was spinning as the other three were thrown to the other side of the room from the force. Her strength managed to stop the wheel from spinning uncontrollably as the ship was slowly tilting back to its former position, but it didn’t stop the struggle behind her. She recalled that the tilted position of the ship managed to give the brunette an advantage and it made her spin the wheel to the opposite direction, causing the three to be thrown back to the other side of the room.

“Stop trying to spin the wheel back and forth!” Romeo warned her, but his words fell deaf on her ears as she spun the wheel again. “Or at least don’t use your full strength!”

“I-I’m not!” Nana responded in panic with a quick glance at her struggling comrades.

The chef held onto the wheel firmly and started looking around at the other controls. She wasn’t even sure what she should have touched anymore when everything looked foreign to her. There were all sorts of monitors around that she wasn’t sure what they were for and the mere sight of them was enough to make her head spin. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do with them, until Romeo’s and Hiro’s voices from behind her snapped her from her thoughts.

“Nana! Behind you!”

The chef held the wheel tightly as she turned around to make direct contact with the rifle belonging to the soldier. She could catch a glimpse of her comrades’ worried faces as she turned around and seeing the weapon aimed at her at point blank range, her muscles subconsciously reacted to block the shot instead of moving away. As she was holding onto the steering wheel, the force of her strength caused the wheel to come off instead and inadvertently knocked the soldier’s rifle off his hands.

The long range weapon broke the window and flew through it, leaving him defenseless with the metal wheel-wielding Nana. He looked at her in fear as she absentmindedly held the broken wheel in her hands, until her mind registered the things she wanted to do to him. Especially after she saw what he had done to her precious comrades in front of her.

“This is for hurting my friends!”

She raised the wheel above her head as she approached the soldier before bringing it down to his head. The strength she put into her swing caused the floor under him to break, sending the soldier down to the level below the control room. As Nana stood still in her position, the two Blood members peeked through the hole the impact had caused, seeing the puzzled navies surrounding the unconscious soldier.

“W-What was that…?” Hiro looked through the hole in disbelief, seeing that the unconscious soldier was being surrounded by equally confused navies.

When he and Romeo turned to Nana, she was still trying to register the damage she had caused. Her eyes went back and forth between the two puzzled cadets before seeing the lone steering wheel in her hands. She realized what she was holding and looked back at the control panel, which was missing the exact same wheel she was holding. The metal wheel hit the floor with a loud clunk when she threw it reflexively, which invited more people into the room.

“What the heck happened here?” a crimson-haired man asked as he stood by the door, before another man with longer light blond hair pushed him into the room in a rush.

The man who came in last ignored his companion’s protest as he dashed towards the broken control panel and sighed at the sight of the wheel on the floor, “Great. We’re getting paid less again with this broken scrap.”

While Hiro was looking confused that the two men were more concerned and were arguing about the damage costs, Romeo and Nana stared at them with surprised looks.

“Shun? Karel?” The two men stopped the argument once they heard the injured blond calling their names. “What are you guys doing here?”

Shun was the first to respond with a smirk, “Well, I never expected to see a couple of old faces here. I thought you guys weren’t with us navies.”

“Whatever part of the military they joined,” Karel added with his eyes still on the broken control panel, “they’re still the same old troublemakers who cost us some unnecessary expenses.”

“Hey!” Nana gave the older blond a glare, “That’s not how you’re supposed to greet your friends you haven’t seen for years!”

Shun let out an irritated sigh, “Friends don’t steal each other’s money and glory, you know!”

“Can’t you losers just stay quiet for even a second?!” Karel was glaring at the group with a note in hand. “I’m trying to calculate the repair cost for all the damage done here. Unless you’re going to pay for everything you broke in here, including the extra bloodstain on the floor over there.”

He pointed at the pool of blood next to him, with the lifeless body of the helmsman being stuck under the pillar which formerly held the steering wheel. There was a slight look of disgust as he looked at the body before returning his attention to his own notes, ignoring Nana’s guilty look. Her two comrades could see her sense of guilt but as they were going to protest, Shun had blocked them from their attempt.

“Look, how about a deal to handle that guy’s attitude?” the crimson-haired man asked as he pointed back at Karel, who was trying to ignore his insults. “Just say that _I_ did all the work here to clean up the mess you guys made, you guys pay for all the damages, and I won’t say anything that actually happened here to our superiors.”

Hiro looked at him with a raised brow, “And… how is that supposed to work? Like, we don’t look like we’re getting any–”

“Me! I’ll be getting something in return and you guys won’t be in trouble thanks to me–”

“Stop bickering nonsense, Shun. Your voice is already annoying enough and it’s going to cost us more salary cut if I miscount the numbers,” Karel’s irritated tone had invited Shun to stomp over to his place with a glare.

The three younger cadets were left to watch Shun and Karel get into another argument, which was cut short by the sound of stomping feet outside. Another group of navies came into the room as they were trying to find out what was going on with the ship, only for the ship to tilt slightly from the lack of a steering wheel. As the group of soldiers were thrown to one side of the room, Nana had jumped from her spot to reach the steering wheel pillar she broke earlier.

Her hands grabbed whatever mechanism left she could hold with her hands and used her strength to try and turn it to the opposite direction. Much to her surprise, the ship moved as she wished it would even with the steering wheel still taken off. When she looked back at the group of soldiers, they had equally surprised expressions as she had after seeing what she had attempted to do.

“That… that was awesome!” Hiro’s comment was followed by cheers coming from the other soldiers behind him.

Nana was feeling overwhelmed by the praises they had for her, as she didn’t even think about what she was doing. All she had in mind was to help her friends and comrades, but her destructive strength had helped more than just her friends. While Romeo was the first one to suspect a spy among their allies, she was the one to take him down, even if it cost some damage done to the control room and quite possibly, in other places on the ship.

As the soldiers surrounded Nana to praise her for her effort in taking down an enemy, Romeo watched her from a few steps away. Neither of them joined with the knowledge about how to fight in war, it was apparent that Nana had a better potential to fight compared to him. The sight of her being praised as a hero by the navies made him proud as a friend, but at the same time, he was feeling a little jealous as well. At least, he felt that he deserved some credit for noticing that the suspicious soldier wasn’t a part of their army.

“Hey, are you jealous?”

Romeo snapped back to reality, seeing the grin on his brunette friend.

“I mean, Nana is usually the one to handle the support with cooking and pretty much house chores around the camp and now she’s the one saving the day,” Hiro added as he looked at her with a smile on his face. “I guess I’ll be kinda jealous if I’m in your position, but also proud of her at the same time.”

Romeo looked at his brunette friend for a moment as he had said pretty much everything in his mind. Even so, that only gave him more reason to work harder so that she didn’t have to be the one to do the protecting all the time. After all, he was there to protect her instead of the other way around.

“Maybe… just a little bit…” the blond responded with a whisper and a smile on his face. “But anyway, shouldn’t we report the situation to Captain–”

“Hello, Vice Captain!” Hiro’s loud voice interrupted him as the brunette had a hand over his ear with a big smile on his smile. “This is your favorite subordinate speaking and I’m here to give you a quick report for the survey mission!”

Romeo could only laugh when he saw his friend being excited about a report. He had expected it when Hiro was put in charge for the mission from their team and his crush on the vice captain wasn’t a secret to them. Seeing him being on friendly terms with the vice captain of their team at least made him feel like he had accomplished something since joining the army, even if it wasn’t something too heroic. He wished that instead of just a handful of people, he wanted to be helpful to a lot of people.

To help a lot of people.

Romeo looked back at Nana as the words echoed in his head. He remembered that he had asked Nana a question about her reason to join the army that she had never answered. The event on the mission gave him a clue about her true reason to join the army with him. Especially when he knew that under normal conditions, Nana would instead ask for someone else’s help as she would almost always avoid unnecessary conflict.

* * *

“I am going to join the army too! Just like Romeo, Shun, and Karel!”

Nana stood confidently in front of the dining table, earning surprised stares from other people sitting by the table. Her eyes showed her unwavering resolve and that she wouldn’t change her mind even if people told her that she couldn’t do it. She had made her decision and she was going with it even if the others were against her and even if Romeo asked her to stay.

Her blond friend wasn’t there with the rest of the orphanage caretakers, which made her feel that it was safe enough to say it out loud. She wasn’t going to tell him until she was officially accepted to the team so that he couldn’t stop her from going. After all, she was joining the army mainly for his sake and to keep him safe in return for all the kindness he had given her.

Little did she know that Romeo was present, though hidden from her view, when she announced her decision. He was shocked at first and he didn’t want her to risk her life for him too, but a quick look at her eyes told him that she wasn’t going to change her mind. With her on board, it gave him more reason to fight harder as he wanted to keep her safe too.

With a smile on his face, Romeo walked away from his hiding spot for his own preparation to join the army.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew. The chapter is back at pretty much the usual length, though with the fatigued condition I was while editing the chapter, I might miss some mistakes or spelling errors, so sorry about that.
> 
> I'm not sure if the update is going to speed up once the year-end holiday starts next Wednesday, especially when I'm still constantly bothered outside office hours for work. I'm willing to try though, as long as I'm not too tired from overworking.
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading as always and leave a comment to let me know what you guys think of the story so far!


	16. Under the Sky of Uncertainty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone and sorry for a slightly late update. Work is back to haunt me today, as expected, but I'm hoping that this is the end of bugging clients on holidays.
> 
> The plot is finally moving again, with the main focus being Ciel's development when faced with a choice of how she should live her life as a soldier. A bit extra to Hiro's past is added here too, but the main part of this chapter will be around Ciel and her (possibly) growing relationship with her teammates, especially with Hiro.

It was a cloudy morning. The dark clouds were covering the sky, though it wasn’t as dark as rain clouds. The dark color came from the smoke of fighter jets flying around the area, but they were too far up for someone to see which country the jets belonged to. Sounds of bombs in the distance accompanied the loud sounds of jets patrolling the area, making the war atmosphere feel more apparent than necessary.

Nana had just woken up for the day and was stretching her arms as she walked out of the tent, looking up at the darkening sky. The proud feeling of her accomplishment a few days previously made her sleep a lot better as she was more confident in herself, but the negative feeling in the air as she looked at the sky was enough to bring a frown back to her face.

While she was happy that she could become more useful to the army than just being the camp’s cook, the event didn’t cause her dislike of fighting to fade away. She continued staring at the sky while standing in front of the tent before she felt another presence beside her. She wanted to give the vice captain beside her a good and happy morning greeting, but the stoic expression on her face stopped her from doing so.

Instead of a greeting, a question popped up in her head as she turned her attention back to the sky.

“Why do wars exist anyway?” Nana asked in a sad tone. “It’s only going to cause more deaths and more people to grieve, so why can’t everyone just be friends and sit on the same table for a good meal together?”

Ciel gave her a quick but expressionless look as she shifted her attention to the clipboard in her hand, “I can confidently say that not all people have the same way of thinking as you do,” The vice captain stopped to flip over a single piece of paper on the clipboard, “Regardless of what the leaders of the warring countries have in mind, it is not our concern as soldiers. We are here to follow the orders of what our leaders tell us to do, not to think about what other people are thinking.”

The chef paused to stare at the vice captain, but she was completely ignored. She was confused with the vice captain’s sudden change of attitude, which was made more apparent with her stoic face and her unquestioning obedience to orders. She was sure that if she asked the vice captain a few nights before, the answer would be different from the one she was getting currently.

“Orders, huh…” Nana let out a sigh before she looked up at the sky with a questioning look on her face, “Do you think that orders are actually meant for the sake of both sides in a war? Because I don’t like how we’re supposed to take another person’s life just to win and survive the battle…”

Ciel looked up from the clipboard for a moment after the sad tone caught her ears. She looked at Nana as the chef was staring at the dark sky with an unusual frown on her face. She was personally certain that orders were made for the sake of both sides, until Nana mentioned about hurting other people for their own survival. She had never questioned about hurting someone else before when it was an order, but she couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy when Nana mentioned it.

The question itself made her feel like Nana was trying to make her choose between the life of another human being who was also their enemy and the given order whose side was still left questionable to her. She was left in silence, unable to answer Nana’s question, before she tried focusing herself back to the clipboard in hand.

Just as she was going to continue where she had left off on the clipboard, she was interrupted by a familiar loud voice greeting her and Nana.

“Good morning, ladies!” Hiro stood in front the two with a big grin on his face as he out his hands on his hips, “Did you all sleep well last night?”

The brunette’s smile didn’t fade even with how Nana was staring at him awkwardly. Ciel only gave him a quick look before turning her attention back to her work on the clipboard. Her face showed no notable expressions when she did as she was trying to focus on her work of the day.

“Did… did something good happen?” Nana asked as she tried to look a little more cheerful, though it became unusually hard after the topic of conversation she had with the vice captain.

Hiro gave her an excited nod, “Yes! It was something so good that I’ve been questioning it all morning if I’m still dreaming!”

The brunette’s eyes went over to the vice captain, who then looked up with a sigh as she felt the stare he was giving her. He was looking at her excitedly for some reason, but she was too busy to think about what was going in his mind.

“Julius called us for a mission briefing,” he broke the news with an excited smile, but the vice captain didn’t have the same expression when she heard it. “When I said _us_ , I mean Ciel and I are going on a mission together! Just the two of us!”

While the brunette had slowly got better in fighting after spending months in war, the vice captain wasn’t too fond of his carefree attitude during battles. Fighting in war wasn’t playing with toy swords and rifles as there were lives to protect and orders to follow. It wasn’t a fun thing to do as it was a duty for them to follow as soldiers serving for their country. He didn’t look like he was taking military duties seriously as he was supposed to be.

“Come on!” A hand on her wrist had stopped her train of thoughts as the brunette held her with a smile on his face, “The faster we get to Julius, the faster we can leave for our mission!”

Ciel didn’t get the chance to say anything as Hiro was already dragging her away from her tent. When she looked back at Nana, the chef was waving at them while wishing them good luck on their mission. It was pretty obvious to her that the chef wasn’t planning on talking some sense into the brunette as he dragged her away and headed for the captain’s tent.

* * *

“An assignment as guards?” Hiro blinked in confusion as he stood in front of Julius. “I don’t mind spending the day with Ciel by my side, but shouldn’t there be more people to guard something as big as the whole air force base?”

The blond captain stepped to the side, revealing a map of the area on the board behind him. There were red lines across several areas, ending at pinned notes on the board. There were several other circle and cross markings on the sides of the lines, which were things Hiro wasn’t sure what they were for. All he could think about was the fact that it was a strategy board, but he wasn’t too interested in the topic that he recalled sleeping through the classes about military tactics.

Julius pointed at one of the lines, which was surrounded by a few cross markings, “This is the most hidden route to access the base. Small enemy camps should be in the area, so moving a large group of soldiers in the area will most likely cause too much noise to attract their attention. Other members of Blood, excluding myself, are to stay in camp to guard General Grem before his meeting tomorrow.”

“Meeting? Who is he going to meet in the middle of war like this?” the brunette asked curiously, earning stares from the two team leaders in front of and right next to him.

Ciel cleared her throat, getting Hiro’s attention, as she looked at him with a glare, “I believe the general’s business is none of our concern. As soldiers, it is our duty to carry out our given orders without question.”

It was Hiro’s turn to stare at her in return, with a look of disbelief on his face. He understood that his question might have been because of his curiosity, but even as soldiers, he believed that they had the right to know what their mission was for. It was the first time he was given a mission without being told what the actual purpose was and he couldn’t help but feel a bit curious.

“Y-Yes, that is quite the case for this mission,” Julius responded, slightly stuttering. “The details of the mission is classified, so I’m also unaware of the reasons behind the mission’s purpose. All you needed to do is to make sure the route is safe before continuing to guard the base itself. The last thing we need is an ambush when the General makes it to the base tomorrow morning.”

Hiro still felt that something was off which caused him to hesitate. He looked at the vice captain standing next to him, who gave the captain a salute without further questions. The brunette sighed before he saluted as well and left the tent along with Ciel.

Just as the vice captain was going to walk back towards her tent, he quickly grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving just yet.

“Wait a minute, Ciel!” the brunette called her by name casually, which earned a glare from her as he saw other soldiers passing by the tent. “I-I mean… Vice Captain!”

Her glare at him had softened, but to him, she looked clearly annoyed.

“If you feel the need to be insistent on the affairs outside of our orders, then our conversation ends here,” Ciel sternly told him before she forcefully removed his hand from her arm and turned to the direction of her tent.

The brunette took a step closer towards her, causing her to stop in her tracks as well. He let out a sigh, seeing as the vice captain’s actions felt like he was talking with a different person. While he knew that she grew up believing that orders were everything, he felt that for some reason, she was taking it a little too far. She wouldn’t just obey orders with very little information.

“You’ve… changed…” Hiro whispered as he let his shoulders relax for a quick moment. “I mean, I feel like you’re different from the vice captain who had so much fun talking about stray animals around the base back then. I really thought that you could become a good friend from all the time we spent as a team.”

The brunette looked at her standing in front of him. Ciel didn’t move after he told her what was in his mind, which was something he didn’t think about before saying it. Rather than feeling offended by her actions, which were starting to revert to their initial states, he felt a little disappointed in her. He felt upset with her sudden change, but he couldn’t bring himself to hate her.

Hiro let out another sigh before going to the other direction, heading for his own tent to prepare for the mission without saying anything else. He didn’t know that once he was out of sight, Ciel turned around with a slight frown on her face as she put her curled hand on her chest.

‘ _Why do I feel offended by his words? Isn’t following orders the right thing to do as a soldier?’_

* * *

Hiro couldn’t help but think back to the vice captain after the uncomfortable conversation they had earlier. He was sitting on his side of the tent he shared with Gil and Romeo as he recalled the past few days within their team. Ciel was getting easier and easier to talk to about other topics when the team wasn’t on missions, but it only lasted until a few days earlier. What happened then wasn’t something he knew, but seeing her reaction earlier, he was sure that he wouldn’t get an answer if he asked her what happened.

He was deep in his thoughts that he was completely obvious to the events around him in the tent as he wasn’t on his own.

“What the heck does that General Mustache want to do now?!” Gil’s loud complaint from behind brought the brunette to reality. “Is his business so damn important that he wants all of Blood to be his bodyguard?”

Hiro turned around to see that the older cadet had just changed his clothes into his black Blood uniform and threw the clothes to his side of the tent. Romeo was also present and was looking over his notes, ignoring Gil’s complaints completely as the blond’s eyes were fixed on the contents of the notes.

“That’s… strange…” the blond whispered to himself. “Tomorrow is the same day as…”

“Is something else happening tomorrow too?” Hiro asked curiously, but his question had caused Romeo to almost jump in surprise. “W-What is it? Why are you so surprised?”

Romeo looked at the brunette nervously before noticing the note he was holding. He quickly threw it under his messy sleeping bag before letting out a nervous laugh, “N-Nothing! Just uh… a few tactical notes for myself in the field!”

“What tactical notes?” Gil asked bluntly. “Julius obviously mentioned that you’re not going to be involved in the frontline tomorrow. I think he finally realizes that it’s better to keep people like you somewhere out of danger.”

Hiro looked over at the blond, whom he expected to be annoyed by the older cadet’s bluntness. Romeo, however, didn’t respond with much reaction as he usually would. He only looked at Gil blankly before nodding, which caught the dark brunette by surprise as well. He did recall that Romeo was acting a little off since their mission together with Nana on the ship, which added more strangeness to the team.

“Kamui, are you in here?”

The familiar shadow of their team captain outside their tent, prompting Hiro to open the entrance, “Yeah, I am. Something’s up?”

“Nothing too important, though I need to talk to you about something,” Julius’ eyes went over to Gil’s and Romeo’s curious looks for a moment before turning back to the brunette in front of him as he cleared his throat, “No, to be exact, I have a favor to ask of you.”

A favor? From the great captain himself? It was something Hiro had never expected to hear.

“Can you look after Ciel and keep her safe? There are only two of you in the upcoming mission, after all,” the captain’s voice didn’t sound as stern as usual as he asked him.

The unusual things in his team made Hiro even more confused. He wasn’t sure what events happened that he missed out to cause his teammates to act unusually. The cases with the vice captain and the captain would be the strangest ones, which made him feel that something had happened between them when he wasn’t around. Probably, the things he didn’t want to happen which caused him to lessen his chances with the vice captain.

That thought in mind made him feel like he was being stabbed, as he was told to watch over and protect someone else’s future bride. But even if he wasn’t asked to, he was sure enough that he wouldn’t let any sort of harm to come her way.

Hiro responded with a hesitant nod, lowering his head to hide his face from the captain, “I will… I promise that I’ll protect her with my own life.”

The brunette stood in the same position for a moment, expecting a response from the captain. He could see that Julius’ feet started moving from his spot and felt a pat on his shoulder, “Stay alive, you two. We have to meet up in the base tomorrow for our next assignment as a team.”

Hiro could feel a slight hint of pain and sadness in his voice. When he looked up, Julius had already walked away from the tent without another word to say. Gil soon joined the brunette by the tent’s entrance, overhearing the conversation as he and Romeo weren’t too far away from the entrance.

“I think he noticed that Ciel hasn’t been herself for the past few days,” he told the younger cadet. “I saw her coming out of General Mustache’s tent a few nights ago and she kinda returned to be the same old puppet soldier she used to be. Something probably happened then, but I didn’t stay out long enough to find out.”

Hiro looked back at the slightly open entrance as Julius was already out of his sight, “I wonder what happened then…”

* * *

Hiro could feel that he and his teammates were getting closer as friends, but not to the point that they would reveal their own secrets. He wasn’t the curious type to actually ask both Ciel and Romeo what caused their change of attitude, but he felt that everyone needed to know when one of their own had their own troubles. He could probably offer some help for them, even if he wasn’t completely sure what he could do to help.

As the brunette made his way out of the camp for his mission, he couldn’t shake off the look on the vice captain’s face during their early encounter. He initially couldn’t tell what she was thinking when she hadn’t started opening up to them, but he could see something within her eyes that morning even when she didn’t show it on her face. She looked lost and confused, the looks which he had never seen on her before.

He let out a sigh as the thoughts plaguing his mind could only endanger him and Ciel during their mission. There would be another time to worry about those issues later and that time was now. They had a mission to fulfill and he had a feeling that a fight or two would be waiting for them.

His walk came into a stop right outside the camp and the familiar pine forest soon came into his view. It was the meeting point as he was ordered to previously and he could see that he wasn’t the first one to arrive.

Ciel was already present, along with a stray deer she was petting. The brunette decided to stop a few steps away from them, hearing the vice captain’s voice as she frowned at the deer.

“I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to feed you and your family anymore,” she whispered as her hand gently rubbed the wild animal’s head. “Please, take care of yourselves and stay away from unknown humans.”

The deer stepped closer to her and rubbed its head to the vice captain’s face, much to her surprise. Her frown soon turned into giggles as the deer started licking her as well. The sight made the brunette chuckle as he approached her, only for the deer to notice him and run away. He stopped in his tracks to see the confused vice captain, who was then surprised by his presence when she turned to him.

“Y-You have arrived…” Ciel avoided having direct eye contact with him, most likely from him seeing her with a stray animal when she was supposed to be ready for the mission. “Is everything ready on your side? We should get moving soon before it gets dark.”

“W-Wait!” Hiro’s voice stopped her from moving, but she only gave him a cold stare.

The look in her eyes made him feel like she knew what he was going to ask her. Maybe curiosity wasn’t the best trait of his to show when she wasn’t in the mood for a casual conversation. He quickly shook his head when she gave him a glare, pushing away his questions about the deer and about what happened between her and the general for a better time.

“S-Sorry, never mind that,” he nervously told her before sighing. “Let’s… let’s just get moving already…”

As he expected, the vice captain nodded without a moment of hesitation before leading the way into the forest. He was sure that she thought of the mission not more than just any other missions or tasks assigned to her. To him, the mission could have been his rare chance to prove more of his abilities and to impress her, except that everything just faded away when she showed signs that she had reverted to her old self.

The quiet walk through the forest didn’t make things better for them either, as Hiro’s mind was still struggling to try and think of things he could do to help the vice captain’s problems. His hand played around the hilt of his sword as he continued walking behind Ciel, trying to get himself to focus on the mission at hand. He kept telling himself that what he could do for her now would be to concentrate on the situation and protect her whenever troubles struck.

His shoulders tensed and he stopped walking when he heard the sound of clicking in front of him. Their surroundings were getting darker and darker as they found themselves in a forest with different kinds of vegetation. There were no pine trees around them as they were replaced by various kinds of other trees with leaves blocking most of the barely noticeable sunlight.

The brunette’s attention was directed at the silver-haired sniper in front of him as she cautiously scanned the area through the scope of her sniper rifle. Her actions caused him to be more alert as he looked around while holding his sword, but he couldn’t barely see anything in the darkness. He could hear the rustling sound of grass, but he wasn’t sure if it was from the wind or the presence of other people nearby.

He looked back at Ciel, who had lowered her weapon, but kept her herself aware of her surroundings. He wasn’t sure how she could aim in the dark when there was barely enough light to see what was in front of them. Moreover, he recalled that the mission was among one he was assigned to which had nothing to do with overcoming his fears of drowning.

“Hey,” Hiro called out to the vice captain. “Why are we assigned to dark places like this anyway? It’s not like I’m afraid of the dark if the general or anyone else is trying to make me forget about my fears.”

Ciel gave him a quick glance before looking around the area with her sniper rifle ready at hand, “Have you forgotten already, Private? Orders are orders and anything outside orders are none of our concern.”

“I know, I know,” the brunette responded in an annoyed tone. “It’s just… I kinda feel that we’re being left in the dark from everything when we’re out here risking our lives for the general. You know, a bit more info about why we’re doing things like this or at least a bit of history lesson about our team’s forming should be enough for me.”

“We are _not_ risking our lives for General Grem only,” Ciel corrected him in a stern tone. “We are soldiers of Susano’o and we fight for the sake of our country. We are risking our lives for all of its people, be it the general himself, anyone in the military, or civilians.”

Hiro tried looking at her, but he could only make out her figure in the darkness. He couldn’t see her face, but from the way she spoke to him, he was sure that she wasn’t too happy with his attitude. At the same time, he felt a little annoyed that she refused to listen to him for just a little bit and instead obeyed her orders without question. Did orders truly mean everything to her?

The brunette opened his mouth to argue, but he was silenced when he heard unusual rustling sound in the area. His hands were drenched in cold sweat, but he was ready to take out his sword just as the vice captain on his side was ready to shoot down any intruders. The rustling sound became louder and louder, which let them know that they were no longer on their own in the area.

“Enemies!” Ciel called out before scanning the area once more. “There should be a few frontline soldiers coming our way and a sniper behind them. Take care of the frontline soldiers first while avoiding shots from the sniper!”

Hiro couldn’t see clearly in the darkness, but he could make out human figures around the area charging for them. The small rays of dim light were reflected on their swords gave away the sniper’s location as there were two hiding behind trees, which prompted the brunette to charge at them instead while drawing the other soldiers towards him. His blade met with other sharp blades with loud clangs as the sounds of gunshots rang out in the area.

“I’ll be the decoy!” the brunette told her before he blocked an incoming attack with his sword. “You should watch out for the snipers! There are two of them hiding behind the trees!”

The brunette could have sworn that he heard her gasp, but her voice was drowned by the two gunshots being fired. He wasn’t sure where the shots were aimed, but he couldn’t feel any sort of bullet impact on his body as he took down one of the soldiers in a quick brawl before pushing him towards one of the enemy snipers.

“That was an order!” Ciel told him sternly before releasing her own shot at the enemy as well. “Why are you being as disobedient as Private McLane?!”

Hiro turned to the direction where the vice captain’s voice came from, “They have two snipers! If their allies got me surrounded then you would be the snipers’ easy target! I’m not going to let that happen!”

“I know their attack patterns!” the brunette stopped for a quick moment as one of the soldiers in front of him fell to a gunshot from behind him. He turned around, seeing a trace of smoke from Ciel’s sniper rifle being illuminated by the dim light, “They have highly-trained snipers equipped with night vision, but they aren’t trained well for close combat. The other soldiers are trained to fight in various extreme conditions and fighting in the dark is not excluded from those conditions.”

The brunette turned to her in disbelief as he never expected her to know the exact detail of their opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. He was especially not expecting her to tell him everything when they were fighting those opponents, but he had to admit that her plan sounded more logical after she told him the details. The snipers could easily shot him down when he got closer and the vice captain would be left in a much more vulnerable state against a few close range attackers at once.

He nodded, even if he wasn’t sure whether Ciel could see him clearly. He elbowed an incoming soldier as he lunged at the brunette and then grabbed his arms. He pushed the soldier against another one, knocking both of them to the ground. His sword was ready on his side to block a swing meant for him before twisting it to knock the sword off the enemy’s hand. A quick slash to the wrist had prevented the soldier from trying to grab his sword back before he was kicked back on the chest.

The vague silhouettes of the soldiers he had knocked down were visible as they tried getting up again, but shots fired from the vice captain stopped their attempts from getting up. When the brunette turned his attention back to the trees, he saw the light being reflected off one of the sniper’s scope as he was trying to switch trees for a hiding place. He quickly took a quick glance to the vice captain, measuring the position between her and the sniper he spotted.

“Ciel! At two o’ clock from your position!” he quickly told her.

Ciel aimed as she was informed, noticing unusual movements through her scope, “I see him!”

The vice captain didn’t think twice before firing her shot, effectively taking out one of the snipers. They once again looked around for the other sniper, only to be greeted by a few other soldiers coming into the area. Hiro readied his sword, but another sound of gunshot from a distance made him reflectively duck down to try and avoid a shot.

He could hear that the bullet hit something nearby, but he assumed that it was one of the trees as they were in the forest. Ignoring the bullet’s trajectory, he charged at the incoming backup soldiers but got caught in the brawl of more people instead. He swung his sword around to attack, but he took a few cuts and bruises in the process before he was knocked down to the ground.

The moment he saw shadows of people looming over him, he rolled to the side and skillfully dodged a spiky mace before it landed on his face. He lunged forward to the mace wielder, stabbing his hand and made him drop the weapon before swinging the blade to the side and released the weapon from being stuck on the enemy soldier’s hand. As he was trying to regain his balance from the powerful swing of his sword, his head was hit hard by a blunt object which was about to knock him off again, until Ciel’s shot prevented the incident from happening.

The last enemy soldier fell, leaving them to find the last sniper once more. When Hiro looked over at the vice captain, he could vaguely see her shadow as she was trying to stand up straight with a hand above her hip. Before he got the chance to ask her what was going on, she quickly raised her sniper rifle once more and fired a shot, which almost scratched his cheek, landing on the sniper right behind him.

“It’s… finished…” Ciel was panting as she was losing her footing, but Hiro caught her before she fell to the ground.

“C-Ciel! W-What’s going on?! Did you get−” the brunette held her free hand, which was covered by her damp glove. When he looked at his hand, he could see traces of dark liquid on his hand, the kind which he had seen more often since he was brought into combat, “Y-You’re bleeding! But when did you−”

“That’s not important!” Ciel tried to sound strong, but she couldn’t hide the pain she was experiencing as she clutched to her side. “There… there should be more backup to arrive…”

As if on cue, the sound of rustling was heard once more and they felt the presence of other people nearby in the area. Hiro almost held the vice captain’s shoulder too tightly when he was trying to curl his hand while holding her and slowly relaxed his hands as he looked around. When he turned back to her, she was looking at him with a determined look.

“Go and get some help! I shall buy you some time!” Ciel told him sternly, “You are too injured to continue fighting!”

He could see in her eyes that she wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, but it wasn’t never his intention to leave her when she clearly needed help. He shook his head and got his sword ready, even with Ciel trying to stop him from raising his sword against the next wave of enemies.

“No! You have to get out of here, Private!” the vice captain’s voice sounded more like she was desperate than being stern before she was interrupted by the stinging pain on her side. “T-That’s… an order…!”

Her pained voice felt familiar to the brunette as the sight in front of him turned into a scene of an old house for a quick moment. A shadowy figure had raised a knife above their head, right in front of a flailing woman with brown hair. The scene went farther as he felt himself moving away, seeing the woman being stabbed before everything burned away.

History was about to repeat itself, but he wasn’t going to let it happen. He wasn’t going to run and lose another precious person in his life.

“I don’t care!” Hiro responded loudly before he swung his sword at one of the attackers, knocking him out in a single slash. He stood in a firm stance with his bloody sword in front of him, “I’m not running away! I don’t want to run away anymore!”

He swung his sword around vigorously, both blocking and attacking his opponents who charged at him, before stopping suddenly and pointing his sword at one of the attackers’ neck.

“I want to protect everyone! I won’t let anyone die when I can still stand up and fight!”

Hiro let out his fighting yell before charging at the remaining members of the enemy soldiers. While he took a few hits on his own, he could deal more damage to his opponents with his powerful sword swings. One by one the enemy soldiers fell with many cut wounds, until the brunette was the last one standing. His hands and uniform were stained with blood, which he came to realize as he dropped to his knees with warm tears sliding down from his cheeks.

“Mom… Dad… I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you… I wish I wasn’t too scared to stand up and protect you…”

The brunette stayed in the same position for a moment while being surrounded by his fallen enemies, before he felt a small but warm hand holding his shoulder.

* * *

The forest was quiet once more, as if it had no life living in it. The lack of light made the forest even more ominous, especially when the area was filled with the fallen soldiers.

Ciel was crouching down in front of Hiro as the brunette leaned against the tree while she took care of his wounds. Her unwanted movements as she was treating him made her wince in pain, reminding her of the shot wound she had outside the bulletproof vest she was wearing. She had hoped that the soldier in front of her didn’t see her pained face as she didn’t want him to see her weakened state, but the brunette kept his head low the entire time.

The vice captain tied the last part of the bandage with a sigh before she put the remainder of the white cloth back to her aid kit, “I have finished bandaging your wounds. They should be healed by tomorrow if you let them−”

“Sorry,” Hiro’s unexpected apology interrupted her as the brunette raised his head and looked over at her wound, which she noticed and attempted to cover. “I know that you’re the experienced one, but I acted like I know everything in battle. If I listened to you then, maybe you wouldn’t have to get shot in the end.”

It was her fault, not his. If she didn’t let her guard down, she could avoided being shot herself. She wanted to say it herself, but her words refused to come out from her mouth. But if she tried speaking, she would most likely end up blaming him instead, as she wasn’t feeling like herself for the past few days.

Her decision on the matter would be not to say anything as she was trying to get up, but she felt a hand pulling her back. His hand was holding her wrist, forcing her to sit down in front of her as he took out the bandage from her own aid kit box. She assumed that he was trying to help, but his nervous smile told her that he had no idea how to treat a wound.

“It’s… it’s fine…” Ciel took the bandage from his hand as she tried bandaging her own wound, but she felt his eyes were still staring at her. “P-Please turn around.”

“R-Right, sorry…” Hiro nervously turned away, without any notable hints of trying to peek.

The vice captain cleaned the wound and applied some medicine on it as a temporary measure as she didn’t have the proper equipment to sew her open wound. She wrapped it with the bandage once she was done, though the pain was still there as she moved around. She had to remind herself to bring some more medical equipment as she carried fewer than required.

“I’m finished. Let’s continue,” Ciel stood up carefully, hiding her pained face as the stinging pain could still be felt on her side. “The base shouldn’t be too far from here.”

She was given some silent treatment from him and when she turned to him, he had his back turned to her as he slightly ducked down, “Get on my back then. I’m pretty confident that I can carry you that far.”

“H-Huh?” She looked at him in surprise. She was most definitely not expecting his offer at all.

The vice captain wanted to decline as she was fine enough on her own, but the sudden movement nearby snapped her from the thought. One of the soldiers they had taken out started moving, followed by a few others as they started to regain consciousness.

“Great. They’re awake now,” Hiro glanced at the awakening soldiers before looking at her. “Come on! We have to hurry and get out of here! I only knocked them out cold thinking that we’ll be leaving anyway!”

“You… what?!”

Another unexpected thing came from him. As she was trying to register how he could hold back during the fight before, she was already pulled away and forced onto his back as he sped away. She wasn’t given the time to protest or say anything to his proposal as he ran through the forest while carrying her on his back. The next thing she realized, the dark forest around them had changed into a bright area leading to a lineup of aircraft in front of a big building.

“Phew! We’re… finally here…!” Hiro had ducked down to catch his breath from running, but with her still clinging on his back.

Ciel looked around the area, seeing the present ally soldiers staring at them. Feeling uncomfortable with the stares they were given, the vice captain slid off Hiro’s back and caused the brunette to notice the extra weight on his back being missing.

“O-Oh, right, I… kinda forget that I was carrying you on my back…” Hiro laughed nervously, even as she was staring at him.

The vice captain avoided his eyes as he laughed and her hand landed on the bullet wound she had, “I… I was only injured here, so I could still walk on my own… But t-thank you…”

When she mentioned it to him, the brunette looked even more nervous. Was he in a complete panic that he didn’t realize it? She was sure that he was straining himself when he carried her all the way from the forest when he suffered more injuries than her.

“S-Sorry, I wasn’t thinking things straight,” Hiro responded nervously before letting out a sigh. “But anyway, I’m going to get some medical staff to help you with your wounds. It’s better treated here when they have more equipment, right?”

“Ah−” Ciel was about to respond, but the brunette had already run away towards the big building.

She never actually understood him at all. She didn’t know why he didn’t kill those soldiers they encountered when they were clearly their enemies. Why was he so forgiving towards the enemy soldiers? Why was he so kind to everyone, whether they were allies or not? Those were the questions she had in her mind for the past few months, but she wasn’t sure why she was thinking about the questions and about him.

Those thoughts in mind had earned her an earful from the general, as her actions didn’t represent what she had been taught.

“ _You and the rest of Blood are soldiers and it is a soldier’s duty to obey any orders given to them! Even if their order is go and die for the country! Stop thinking about anything else and only think about your orders and missions!”_

Ciel instinctively held her arm as she winced from the general’s words a few nights previously. Her movement and resources were far more restricted then, especially after she was caught using the supplies to help injured animals she found. She wasn’t allowed to feed them anymore or tend their injuries as from the general’s perspective, they were nothing compared to the soldiers who could fight for the country.

Confusion grew within her as she recalled Hiro’s words when they had a talk before leaving for war.

“ _I want everyone, enemies or allies, to live and work together rather than fighting. Not just people, but animals also have the right to live a quality life. I want to fight for a future like that and I’ll go through the path I know that’s right, even if it’s not included in the orders given to me.”_

She was slowly drifting away from the life determined by orders, but she was pulled back to that kind of life because she was a soldier and that was all a soldier should be doing. When she looked at the brunette, she could see him a soldier, but a different one compared to the kind of soldier she had been taught to be. If she wanted to choose the path of a soldier, which path should she choose?

Ciel looked up at the dark and cloudy sky above her with both of her hands on her chest.

“Father… Mother… Which path of a soldier is the correct path I should follow?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact about this chapter that's... probably not actually fun: I feel pretty satisfied with how this chapter turns out that I don't feel that I need to edit too much. Also, I posted this a few minutes before 2 AM.
> 
> As for the next chapter... I'll try to get it done quick while I have less than a week of holiday before going back to the fluorescent hell. There's also the issue with trying to get my laptop's keyboard fixed, but I can still write with my phone.
> 
> So, coming up next! A mission for the entire team of Blood with very little background information revealed to its members and they are only told that the general is having an important meeting in the middle of a war. Stay tuned and hope that I'm inspired enough to breeze through the writing!


	17. Inferiority and Decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy (belated) New Year!
> 
> Sorry the chapter got a bit more delayed than usual as I ended up not working on it without a laptop during the holiday. My head was a mess back then, especially when I still had work to do during the holidays. While the scene here is based on my most favorite scene in the game, I decided to hold off writing it because I want it to turn up good. I needed to be in a good, or at least a better mood to write it. And honestly, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turns out in the end, even if it's longer than the usual chapters.

The sun was barely up with thick fog covering the area around the camp.

The weather was cold, but it didn’t seem to bother the red-haired researcher as she walked through the quiet camp. The look of anxiety was clear on her face, which became worse as she stopped in front of a familiar tall man when he came out of his own tent along with a few soldiers guarding him. She could smell the smoke from the cigarette more and more as the man walked up to her and took out his cigarette from his mouth.

“I didn’t order you to come all the way here, Doctor Leah,” the man told her with a disinterested tone. “I need you to go back and play with your little scientific experiments until further orders.”

As the man was about to walk away, Leah grabbed his arm. He glared down at her, but the scientist didn’t flinch as she kept on looking at him with a pleading look, “General Grem, I will kindly ask you to reconsider your decision. There is no need for this arrangement!”

“Doctor,” Grem sternly replied before he roughly slapped her hands off him. “How about we continue this unnecessary argument in the tent? I don’t want the name of a high-ranked officer to be tarnished unnecessarily.”

Leah didn’t say a word and gave him a quiet nod. The general turned around to walk into his tent, with his guards on standby in front of the entrance. As she was approaching the tent, she could hear the sound of footsteps closing in before the silhouettes of four people in the same black uniform appeared from the thick fog. She stopped right in front of the tent and the four people did the same as well.

The Blood Unit.

Leah could see the looks of confusion on both Gil’s and Nana’s faces, but Julius and especially Romeo were aware of the reason for her presence. They only exchanged looks without saying a word before the scientist quietly made her way into the tent, being greeted by the strong smell of cigarettes as she entered. It was a familiar scent to her, but she had never got used to the strong smell even after years of working alongside him.

Grem was standing on the other side of his desk when the scientist came in, looking at her with a displeased look as the burning cigarette was back between his lips. Leah curled her hands as she took determined steps closer to the general, but the man looked like he already knew what she was going to say to him.

“You’re not going to change my mind, Leah,” Grem exhaled some smoke to his side. “Your dead sister’s precious Blood members aren’t needed anymore when we’re already winning without too much of their contributions.”

“But!” Leah couldn’t hold back her voice, which was mixed with desperation. “They are still people; human beings like us! I cannot allow you to go as far as selling them off to the enemy side like they are some sort of items!”

The general took out his cigarette with a sigh before tapping it to let some ashes fall to the ground, “This is the only choice in hand to put a quick end to this war. If this battle keeps on, more and more money will have to be spent on logistics and feeding our troops. We’re not exactly the richest country in the world anymore.”

Leah stared at him in disgust. While she was very much aware that he wasn’t completely wrong, she wasn’t too fond of the way he responded. She knew that Susano’o Islands was no longer a rich country because of the ongoing wars for the past few years, but she couldn’t understand why someone would consider money to be a much more important asset compared to human lives.

“If that’s all the nonsense you’re going to say, then you’re dismissed,” Grem left his position from the other side of the desk and walked to exit the tent, but stopped next to Leah. “Your sister is already dead and I’m not going to keep silly promises with the dead. Blood is nothing more than her pointless joint experiment with our current enemy and I don’t want our country to be stained by the news of her illegal experiment.”

Leah glared at him in return, while trying to hold herself back from slapping him, “Rachel has _not_ officially passed away. She is still missing up to this day after she was taken right before the day of her major surgery. I believe that she is still alive, somewhere in this world.”

“Hah!” Grem scoffed loudly before roughly tapping the side of her head with his finger. “Your brilliant mind is wasted on pointless dreams, just like your own sister’s dreams of making her own superhumans as combat soldiers. Make yourself useful to me and contact the enemy camp for a meeting as I told you yesterday!”

Leah didn’t say anything as the general walked past her, leaving her alone in the tent. She was left with no choice, as she couldn’t ask for help when the general had the authority over the army. The feeling of helplessness made her go weak on the knees before she let herself fall to the ground with a single tear sliding off her face.

‘ _Rachel… please come back to us… come back to me…’_

* * *

Hiro stretched out his arms as he walked out from the dorm room he spent a night in with a big yawn. The fatigue and injuries he had from the battle before made sleeping feel like paradise, before he was woken up by the morning alarm. His drowsy eyes scanned the empty hallway of the air force base, seeing that he was the only one present in the dorm area.

The brunette made his way through the hallways and to the mess hall for breakfast, only finding it to be empty as well. He assumed that the soldiers of the air force had already left before he woke up as they were still in a war, leaving him to wonder why he and Ciel were the ones in charge of defending the base if a few members of the air force could be stationed there instead.

The thought of the vice captain reminded him that along with the non combatant officers in the base, he and Ciel were still present in the base. Looking for her in the base had become his first priority, even though the event on the previous day was still a little embarrassing for him to remember. At the very least, they both made it to the base alive.

Hiro’s search came to a stop once he found himself outside the building with the dark sky being the first thing he saw. The sky had already been like that for a while, but it hadn’t started raining at all. It almost seemed like the sky was representing a person’s anxiety towards the battle all over the country, even though he caught the news that his homeland was winning the fight.

He let out a sigh under the depressing sky, but stopped on his way back inside when he caught a familiar black and silver color. When he took a closer look, the brunette saw the vice captain crouching down in the corner while being surrounded by sparrows. The small birds were pecking the ground, picking up the seeds they could grab as Ciel spread out another handful of seeds with a smile on her face.

For a quick moment, Hiro felt like he wasn’t in the middle of a war. It might have been insignificant for many, but he felt a moment of peace when he saw her feeding the sparrows and it momentarily made him forget about the battles. Maybe it wasn’t just the scene he was watching, but more like the pure and innocent smile the vice captain had as she cared for the small birds. Perhaps her smile had a positive effect on him as he could feel very relaxed while watching her.

The brunette approached her with a smile, which caused his presence to be known to the sparrows. Ciel noticed him as well when she saw most of the sparrows flying away as he got closer, but her smile faded as she slowly got up. Her hand rested on the area where she was shot before, though her face didn’t show any signs of pain, before she looked at the bandage hidden under Hiro’s long sleeves.

“How… how are your wounds?” Ciel asked hesitantly while avoiding direct eye contact with him.

Hiro’s smile curved into a frown as well, holding his bandaged arm, “I’m… good… They don’t hurt anymore, at least, but I’m not sure if they’re going to leave behind any scars, if that’s what you mean…”

“That’s good enough,” the vice captain responded with her usual stern tone, looking up at him with eyes lacking her previous emotions. “The rest of Blood should be arriving in a few minutes with General Grem. We should get ourselves ready for our next mission before they arrive.”

Hiro watched her as she turned around to walk past him and into the building, seeing that she was back to her old serious and obedient self. She hadn’t talked much about herself that he couldn’t really tell what she was thinking, but he felt that she was trying to be someone whom others wanted her to be. If he assumed that she wanted to be herself, he could imagine how much those wishes might have burdened her.

“Vice Captain,” the brunette called out, just as Ciel was about to enter the building.

She turned to him, expecting him to say something which counted as important to the mission, though he was pretty sure that they had different views on what was important for the mission. Even if he was going to be given an earful later, he had made his mind about letting her know what was more important for her.

“It’s okay to be yourself, you know,” Hiro gave her a small smile before looking back at the traces of seeds being left behind by the escaping sparrows. “I mean, animals are living things too. It’s dumb to disallow people to care for animals when they could, especially when they’re hurt. They can’t talk like us people, but I know that they have feelings and they most likely can tell if someone cares about them.”

Ciel’s hand slid down before she could reach for the door’s electric lock and sighed, “Are you expecting the same when you spared the lives of our enemies yesterday? Do you expect them to turn their backs from the country they serve just because you have helped them?”

“W-What? No, I…” Hiro looked at the vice captain in the eyes, noticing that whatever he had to say to her, she wasn’t going to listen to his excuses. “Sorry…”

Ciel turned her attention back to the door and opened it, but stood still in front of the entrance, “We are in the middle of a war. Regardless of which side is winning, there is no place for emotions in battle. Even if you saved an enemy in battle, there is no guarantee that they will not attempt to stab you while you let your guard down. If you let your emotions get the better of you, then you will only get yourself killed.”

Hiro could only stare at her in silence as she made her way into the building. He knew that she wasn’t wrong, but he felt that there was some truth in his words as well. The way she said it was something that bothered him as she had returned to her initial unsociable self, without him knowing the reason for her sudden change of attitude. Asking her directly might have given him some clues about what happened in the general’s tent to cause her change, but it was getting more and more impossible to ask.

She would most likely consider his question to be irrelevant, though he could justify it as clearing her head before an important job. Even if he did tell her that, her attitude wouldn’t earn him the answer he needed.

* * *

The dark sky made it hard to tell if it was really in the middle of the day. The echoing gunshots in the distance and the sounds of bombing were the only signs to know what time of the day, as the battle would take place mostly during the day.

Hiro stood in the middle of the base’s runway, staying right in front of six fighter jets ready for take off. He held his safety helmet on his side as he looked around the area, feeling the anxiety of his teammates. Their concerns were understandable as they would not only fly right above warzones, but they were also flying right around the enemy territory without a clear reason.

He let out a sigh, feeling that he wouldn’t get an answer even if he asked. A clear reason to fight would be nice, except the captain himself wasn’t aware of the general’s intention and the big man himself wouldn’t answer a mere private’s question. He had to fight blindly, even if the next battle was in the field he was most confident with.

“You nervous?” Hiro almost jumped from the sudden tap on his shoulder, surprising the dark brunette behind him as well. “H-Hey! Do you really have to be that surprised?”

The brunette turned around to face the older cadet, whose presence had been known abruptly, “S-Sorry, Gil… I uh… I have a few things in mind, that’s all…”

Gil stared at him for a moment before letting out a sigh, “Yeah, I think I know what you’re thinking. We’re fighting for General Mustache, but that guy won’t even tell us what his meeting is about! Is it so damn important and classified that he’s not saying anything?!”

Hiro didn’t comment about Gil’s loud questions, which had caught the attention of the officers around the area. While he could understand completely about the older cadet’s concerns, it felt like Gil had other things in mind as most of his attention was directed at the lone blond cadet by one of the jets. Was Romeo the one Gil was most concerned about?

“Hey, did Romeo say anything weird to you two?” Nana’s voice snapped Hiro from his thoughts as she looked at the two with a worried look. “I didn’t have time to cook this morning so I gave him the rice ball I made, but he didn’t eat it…”

Romeo wasn’t eating something that Nana made? That could probably be a serious issue.

“Wait, doesn’t that mean he hasn’t eaten anything for breakfast?” Gil slightly raised his tone, which seemed to Nana that he was trying to scold her. “Give me that damn rice ball and I’ll shove it to his mouth!”

Nana looked a little scared from the dark brunette’s attitude and avoided his eyes as she played with her fingers, “A-Actually, I was afraid that it would be wasted that I… ate half of it…”

Hiro and Gil looked amused after hearing her confession, before the noirette pulled out the half-eaten rice ball from her bag. Before Hiro and Nana could react, Gil had grabbed the leftover food off her hands and stomped away towards the lone cadet. They were afraid that the dark brunette would actually shove the food like he said, but they could only see them talking for a moment before Romeo took the rice ball and started eating it without causing a scene.

The brunette was glad that he didn’t have to be the one to stop their arguments again, though he was sure that their recent arguments were closer to a friendly banter. None of them actually showed it, but they argued and cared for each other as if they were actually brothers sharing similar interests. Gil was more open about it, but that was the first time he showed that he cared right in front of Romeo himself.

The sound of engines starting behind them drowned the footsteps coming for the two as Julius and Ciel walked up to them.

“The preparations are complete. We should board our respective jets and fly in the formation we are told in the briefing,” Julius told the two of them flatly before looking over at Hiro, giving him a light pat on the shoulder and accompanied by a small smile. “We’re counting on you, Kamui. I hope your flying skills can help us in this important mission.”

The brunette returned the smile with a salute, “I won’t let you down.”

“Good,” the captain nodded and let go of his shoulder, heading for his own assigned jet.

Hiro exchanged looks with Nana, as the noirette was staring at Romeo worriedly. While he was concerned about his blond friend, he couldn’t help but feel unwanted stares around him. When he looked back at the building, he could see a few male officers glaring at Nana’s direction and some at Ciel. He didn’t recall any of them doing anything bad, so he wasn’t sure why they were glaring at the two women.

“Someone I know once told me before about military life,” Nana looked back at the people who were looking at her with a frown. “Women like me and Ciel aren’t too welcomed here, so I guess I can understand why they are glaring at us.”

The brunette got the answer to his initial question, even before he asked it himself, but it wasn’t enough reason to hate them for being there.

“But Ciel and I aren’t like any other women!” Nana’s eyes were gleaming with confidence as she clasped her hands together. “We’re going to show them that we can fight well too!”

Her enthusiasm and positive energy brought a smile to the brunette’s face, but she had sped off to her own jet before he could respond. He was left on his own in the runway as the others had boarded their own jets, ready to take off.

When Hiro was about to board his own jet, his eyes fell on the other lane in the runway. A bigger jet was on standby as the general was boarding the craft, before the door was closed as soon as he was inside. The big jet started moving slowly for a take off, followed by the smaller jets driven by his teammates.

Hiro took a deep breath before putting on his helmet and ran to the last jet. Whatever awaited him in the important and classified job, he would always do what he could to protect everyone.

* * *

Ciel could hear the sound of humming engines as she firmly held the controller of her jet. As the altitude of her jet stabilized, she quickly checked the gears she was wearing on her person, starting with the helmet and the oxygen mask. She couldn’t risk being careless when she was far up in the sky, especially when she had an important mission to do.

Her radar was showing her position and the positions of her teammates’ jets, which were starting to form a defensive formation around the general’s own military jet. She was assigned to be the rear guard, staying behind the general’s jet as Julius’ was leading the whole formation from the front. Gil and Hiro were assigned to guard the left wing, while Romeo and Nana were assigned to defend the right wing.

Once the jets were lined up perfectly into position, a beeping noise was heard.

“ _This is Private Bourgogne from Camp Alpha to Blood Unit,”_ the feminine voice of the operator was heard through the communication radio. _“Blood Unit, please give me a situation report if you can hear me.”_

There was a beep in between before Julius’ voice was heard, _“This is Blood One reporting. The area in front of us is clear according to the radar. How is the situation in the rear guard area, Vice Captain?”_

Ciel’s eyes gazed at the green monitor of the radar, seeing that it hadn’t detected anything unusual, “This is Blood Two. My radar hasn’t detected any unusual activities or unknown jets in the area.”

“ _Blood Left Alpha reporting next!”_ Hiro’s enthusiastic tone was heard on the radio, which brought chuckles from the other three side guards. _“The sky is looking grim, but everything on my end is A-OK! And I’ll make sure you don’t have to take any hits, Vice Captain!”_

The vice captain was looking clearly annoyed, though she was the only one who could see her expression. She wished that the brunette would take the situation more seriously even when they weren’t actively in combat with the enemy jets. Silence would be the best way for her to handle him as she couldn’t afford to lose focus because of the things he might say to her.

“ _Blood Left Beta here,”_ Gil’s voice was heard next on the radio. _“Nothing unusual here too.”_

“ _Blood Right Alpha is doing great! But I’m a little hungry…”_ Nana’s voice was heard through the radio, sounding a little weaker before munching sounds were heard.

“ _Please don’t eat while manning the jet, Private Kozuki,”_ Julius scolded her through the radio, though her munching didn’t stop until a moment later, bringing the captain’s attention to the last member to report. _“Blood Right Beta, are you there?”_

The radio went quiet for a moment before Romeo’s voice was heard, _“Yeah… I’m good… Nothing strange here…”_

His voice lacked the energy and enthusiasm he usually had, which the vice captain noticed quite easily. Even so, it wasn’t the time for her to be concerned about his well-being when they were in the middle of something important. She had to focus on the mission regardless of the situation, as long as it ended up with a success on their end.

“ _Ahem!”_ The general’s loud coughing surprised Ciel as he was heard on the radio as well, _“This mission is very important for the future of our country. Don’t mess it up or you’re going to face consequences. And that means all of you.”_

His voice was as stern as always before he cut the connection, bringing the communication line back to the team and the operator.

“ _I will leave the communication open between the camp and the airborne units,”_ Fran told the team through the radio. _“Any incoming jets outside the range of your radars will be monitored on my end, so please be careful and return safely.”_

The radio connection went off with another beep, returning the vice captain back to the humming noise of the jet engines.

Ciel’s gaze had been focused on the radar in case an enemy jet tried attacking from behind, but her radar hadn’t been showing anything else around her other than Blood’s fighter jets. She looked up from the green monitor, glancing left and right for any signs of unusual activity, but her vision was blocked by the thick clouds around her. The radar was there for that reason, but she couldn’t shake off her habits as she was used to scanning areas through the scope of her rifle rather than relying on a monitor.

The flight through the warzone felt peaceful, though almost too peaceful. The vice captain hoped that they wouldn’t need to encounter enemies while airborne, but the lack of activity as they were nearing the border was getting a little too suspicious. As much as she wanted to comment on that, she didn’t feel like it was her place to say when they were still in the middle of an unfinished mission.

“ _Blood Unit, can you all hear me?”_ Julius’ voice was heard on the radio once more, though it was drowned in heavy static. _“... near the enemy border… careful…”_

The radio disconnected abruptly and followed by heavy static, which made Ciel grow concerned, but the beeping sound of her radar caught her attention before she could try reconnecting. She saw three unknown red dots closing in to their formation from the front and the sides, which went undetected until the broken communication.

“Is that… stealth technology…?” the vice captain asked herself worriedly.

The formation she saw in the radar was slowly breaking away, with two of the enemy jets following the two ally jets on the sides. She looked ahead through the protective glass in front of her, seeing flashes of explosion from the front, giving her the hint that the team had started engaging the enemy. Her grip on the controller handle tightened as she was prepared to shoot down the enemy once they reached her shooting range.

A big shadow loomed over the vice captain’s jet, which caught her attention. When she looked up, the shadow was already gone and left behind a trail of smoke leading up to one of the ally jets. The jet was facing sideways and stayed nearby for a quick moment, enabling Ciel to see the familiar brown hair of the jet’s pilot before he sped away with an enemy jet following and shooting him down.

Ciel quickly tilted her own jet, lining up with the enemy jet and tried shooting it down with the machine gun equipped to her own jet. The small explosions hitting the jet’s external frame told her enough that her shots hit it, but it wasn’t enough to take it out.

As she was getting ready for another round of shots, she was stopped by Nana’s fast moving jet coming right from below the enemy jet. She made a quick and sharp turn to avoid the crash, just in time for the second enemy jet to come out from the clouds below. The second one wasn’t too lucky as it didn’t have the time to maneuver and a crash between the two jets wasn’t avoidable. The crash caused both jets to explode, with Hiro’s and Nana’s jet flying away to avoid the shockwave of the explosion.

Ciel was still trying to register what had happened just then, as she was still in disbelief that two members of her team managed to work well enough and took down two jets at the same time. None of their strategies were briefed in the base and with the radio signal being jammed, there was no way of communicating between them. But most of all, she had never read anything about the high risk strategy they used in any book.

No, she must have missed a strategy book or so. It was impossible to come up with such a plan spontaneously.

The vice captain shook her head, trying to get her focus back into the mission. Their mission was to stay in formation and guard the general’s jet, so going out of the formation to fight wasn’t a good option. She had to remind the two cadets about it once they landed, especially when fighting off enemy jets wasn’t their first priority.

Ciel had her eyes back to the radar, which showed that the formation was back in place. What she didn’t expect though, would be the drowned sound of explosion coming from the right side of the formation. Another jet was visible from the side, but her radar wasn’t detecting anything at all.

* * *

“Damn it!”

Romeo’s jet slightly shook as one of the shots hit, but not on the vital areas of the craft. His radar was blinking as the shot had damaged the navigation system, but the enemy jet was still purposely aiming for the blond’s jet. The other jets were still in their formation, most likely unaware of the extra jet in the area as his radar couldn’t detect its location as well. The cloudy area also made it impossible for him to aim properly and the radar wasn’t showing its proper location.

The general’s jet had suddenly increased its altitude without warning, avoiding the shots aimed in his and Romeo’s direction. The radio suddenly buzzed, surprising Romeo, as the connection was back online even with lower sound quality.

“ _Private Leoni! Can you give us a status report?!”_ Fran’s voice was heard on the radio. _“There is another stealth jet from the enemy side around your area!”_

Romeo was about to answer, but was interrupted by a shot hitting the protective glass on his side.

The blond was feeling panicked as he saw a small crack on the glass and the enemy jet facing his own jet. He was too nervous to think properly and only watched as the enemy switched weapons from a machine gun to a torpedo.

“ _Private Leoni! Can you hear me?!”_ Julius had also joined in on the radio, sounding a little panicked. _“You’re in the range of fire! Get out of there!”_

Romeo couldn’t think anymore as he saw the torpedo being launched at him and pulled the controller handle, bringing his jet up higher. The projectile barely hit the lower side of his jet and passed through harmlessly, only to have another ally jet behind him on the direct line of impact. The sound of an explosion was heard and Romeo looked in horror as the torpedo hit the right wing of the jet behind him.

* * *

The sound of a blaring alarm was heard as Ciel pulled the controller handle, trying to maintain her jet’s height. She looked at her right from the corner of her eye, seeing that the right wing of her jet was burning from the earlier impact.

“This… this Blood two…” the vice captain spoke through the radio while trying to maintain a calm tone. “The right wing has taken severe damage from the impact! What is the next order?”

The vice captain could feel that she was slowly losing altitude even with her effort to keep flying, but she knew that it would be close to impossible when one of the jet’s wings was already burning.

The near-death experience would be a first to her, but she had already expected it when she knew that lives would be lost during wars. She expected to lose her life at some point during battle, though she didn’t expect that day to come very soon. Either way, she didn’t feel like losing her life would impact her team when they could manage by themselves without having online communications.

“ _Vice Captain!”_ Hiro’s voice was heard on the radio next, snapping her out of her thoughts. _“Hang in there! We’re coming to help you!”_

Ciel was ready to lose her life in battle, but hearing his voice suddenly made her feel afraid of what would happen to her next. She didn’t feel like she had any emotional connections with him or any of her teammates, so she wondered why she was afraid of dying. For most of her life, she had been taught that she should have been more afraid of failing a mission due to incompetence rather than dying.

Her grip on the handle tightened, but she had no energy to keep her jet flying. The memories of her time with her teammates flashed in her mind, making it harder to accept her fate in the watery grave below her. They were the kind of people who made her feel alive as a person by just being themselves, as they opened the door to the colorful life outside the military life she had lived since childhood.

The image of the brunette’s smile came to her mind, recalling the light but interesting conversation they had before the battle started. She felt that he was being genuine and trying to get to know her for herself rather than her position and name, which was a first for her. He was the first person to treat her like an equal, not someone who was so good and unreachable to anyone.

Yet, she pushed him away.

The guilt of her attitude became apparent to her as a single tear slid down from her face. She was a soldier who believed that emotions could only harm one’s competence, until she realized that she could only fight when she had someone she wanted to protect. She wanted to fight so that her teammates, or her friends, could live another day. But at the same time, she went against the choice she had to keep her promise to her parents to become a competent soldier.

“ _Blood Unit! I have your next orders!”_ Julius’ stern tone was heard on the radio. _“Vice Captain, I need you to eject from your damaged jet. This should be safe enough as the sea is right below us, but you need to do it in a hurry before your jet explodes! Private Kamui and Kozuki will cover for your escape route and the rest will continue to guard the general, though with extra load as we’re going to be low in manpower–”_

“ _I will not allow it!”_ Grem said in a stern tone. _“You_ will _continue your mission to guard my jet and that_ will _be the only thing you do! This is an order!”_

He was right. She wasn’t a priority in the mission, no matter how dire her situation was. They were soldiers on duty and it was their job to escort the general safely. Saving her wasn’t in their job list.

“ _We can’t leave a friend in trouble like this! Vice Captain Alencon is our friend too!”_ Nana sounded desperate as she was trying to plead the general to change his mind. _“Please! We have to help her!”_

No. They had to leave her alone. She didn’t want her teammates… no, her friends… to get into trouble because of her. Even if she had to lose her life in the process, she had to be their leader and keep them out of trouble.

“This is Blood Two speaking,” Ciel spoke up with her voice slightly shaking. “Our team’s priority is to escort General Grem safely to our destination and that objective has not changed. No, it will not change regardless of the situation at hand.”

“ _Vice Captain! You don’t mean–”_

“Yes…” the vice captain responded in a whisper as she tightened her grip once more. “Captain, I am proud to have served under you as your vice captain. However, this may be my final mission with the entire Blood Unit.”

Ciel looked at her radar as it started beeping once more, detecting a couple of jets coming her way. With the situation she was in, she was sure that her fate was sealed.

“I will carry out my duty as a soldier to the very end. Please, finish this mission without me.”

The vice captain’s shaky hands pulled the cables connecting the radio, blocking any other responses from her teammates.

This would be her end and she didn’t want anyone to hear her last moments.

‘ _Father… Mother… This is the path I have chosen… To follow orders as a soldier… and to protect my friends…’_

* * *

“ _Vice Captain! Respond! Please!”_ Julius sounded desperate, but the vice captain wasn’t giving any responses.

“ _Blood Two has disconnected her radio,”_ Fran spoke up next, trying to sound calmer. _“Her jet is attracting the incoming enemy jets and driving them away from your location.”_

“ _Good,”_ Grem added with a satisfied tone. _“At least someone in Blood has been taught well for these kinds of situations.”_

Hiro went silent as his other teammates were arguing on the radio and trying to get in touch with the vice captain. Julius was silenced as well, knowing that even if he was the team captain, he had no authority over the general’s orders. Even so, it didn’t feel right to follow orders blindly when someone obviously needed help, as it was their job as soldiers to also help people in need.

Was that meeting so important than someone else’s life? He was sure that it wasn’t. And not while he could do something about it.

The brunette ignored the bickering over the radio and turned the handle of the controller, tilting his jet away from the formation. His sudden change of position caught the others’ attention, as the argument came to a complete stop when Hiro drove his jet to the opposite way, heading for the trail of smoke left behind by the vice captain’s jet.

“ _Blood Left Alpha! You are taking the wrong direction!”_ Fran warned him. _“The meeting site is on the other side of the direction you’re heading!”_

“I know!” Hiro told her, slightly raising his tone. “I… I’m going to try and help her! And don’t even think about stopping me from saving a dear friend!”

The radio went silent for a moment, leaving him to the humming noises of the jet’s engine as he picked up the speed. The two extra enemy jets soon came to his sight and were detected by his radar, with his thumbs ready to press the buttons and shoot down the crafts in front of him. His hands were sweating from the tension while holding onto the hope that he could still make it before the vice captain’s jet crashed.

The brunette quickly got into position and locked onto one of the jets, firing his first round of shots. His attacks hit the jet’s tail, causing it to lose balance in the air, before his next round hit and destroyed its left wing. The damaged jet soon drowned in the sea of clouds, leaving him to aim at the last jet in front of him, though his attempt on taking the first one had made his presence known to the enemy.

Hiro closed the distance for a closer and more accurate shot to take it out quickly, but the enemy jet decided to fly higher and away from his firing range. With the last one already out of his radar range, the brunette focused his attention on the ally craft nearby, which he was sure to be the one Ciel was driving. He followed the location on his radar and pushed through the clouds, ending up a few hundred meters above the ocean he was deathly afraid of.

The sight of water made him regain his altitude, staying right below the sea of clouds he was flying through before. He looked at the radar, spotting Ciel’s jet right in front of him, and saw a line of black smoke going down as the craft was quickly falling towards the ocean. The brunette quickly moved his jet closer to the area, seeing her jet falling into the water with a big splash, before the weight of the craft’s materials caused it to drown.

Seeing water up close made him nervous once more with the thoughts of the cold water around choking him started haunting him. He couldn’t swim and he didn’t want to die from drowning, but if he didn’t do something quick, someone else would die instead. The very reason he went all the way to chase her down was to save her life.

Hiro braced himself as he tilted his jet slightly for a closer inspection, seeing that Ciel’s jet was slowly getting out of his sight. He was afraid of drowning and dying, but he couldn’t think about it when someone’s life was on the line. No, he had to forget about his fears and go down there.

His determination had pushed himself and his jet into the water, before he opened the protective glass above him. He took off his helmet and oxygen mask swiftly before running to the nose of his jet, looking down at the salty water below him. His breathing was shallow and fast as his mind went wild from seeing water very closely while his hands went cold from fear.

“I have to… I have to do it…!”

Hiro closed his eyes shut and curled his hands into fists. He had failed to save his family and he mustn’t fail to save another life. Not when he was so close to saving it.

The brunette took a deep breath and braced himself before he jumped into the water.

‘ _I have to save her! I have to save Ciel!’_

* * *

It was cold, very cold.

Ciel opened her eyes, seeing the dim light on the other side of the water’s surface as she was getting farther and farther away from it. Of course, her jet couldn’t work when it had fallen into water as it wasn’t made for aquatic combat. She had trapped herself in the watery prison with no hope of ever getting out until the end. Perhaps this ended up being her punishment after she violated orders by using supplies on others the officers deemed ‘unworthy’.

The vice captain slowly removed her oxygen mask, cutting off her air reserve. Water had already filled the entire pilot seat and even if she put the oxygen mask on, she would have no chance of surviving once the oxygen ran out. Her choice of death was cold, but she had no right to choose when all she did was to follow orders for a successful mission.

She slowly closed her eyes once more, with one last hope in her mind.

‘ _Please… let them live through a successful mission…’_

Ciel let her consciousness fade away in the cold water, until a loud crack snapped her back to the cold reality.

When she opened her eyes once more, she saw the shadow of a person as he tried breaking through the protective glass, which was damaged from the water pressure. The glass shattered, much to her surprise, and a pair of hands forced her out of her seat as she was being dragged to the water surface. She was quickly losing air to breathe, but she took the time to try and see the person who had pulled her out from the grave she had chosen.

It was that familiar brown hair again, the one who had helped her from time to time.

‘ _H-Hiro…?’_

The two made it out to the surface and Ciel was able to breathe again. She scanned the area and saw a floating craft, which became her destination to swim to and stay. Her helper, however, lost his grip from her just as she reached the floating jet.

She didn’t think twice and dived down, grabbing the brunette and pulled him up to the floating jet with her.

She felt lucky enough to be alive, especially after she saw flashing light from underwater and the water started moving rather violently. If she didn’t get out of her jet sooner, she would very much be unable to survive the exploding craft.

Ciel didn’t know how to feel after being saved from the brink of death, but a part of her felt relieved that she was given a second chance to live. She turned to look at her savior, who was slumped on the rocking surface of the jet, while panting from both exhaustion and panic attack.

Hiro turned his head to face her, giving her a weak smile, “This… this isn’t the time… for you… to die… you know…”

The brunette let out a long and tired sigh as he tried calming himself down, or at least she assumed that way, while still lying down on the craft. The vice captain was left speechless, seeing that someone who was deathly afraid of water and drowning went all the way to save the life she was throwing away. Worse of all, she was sure that his actions were against the general’s orders and Julius’ inferior order couldn’t come before the general’s order.

It would mean that she technically made him violate an important order, making her an accomplice as well. She couldn’t understand why she felt glad and relieved when she had, in a way, disobeyed an order. But if she did die, she wouldn’t have another chance to pay for her own mistakes in the end. Perhaps, she owed him for giving her another chance at living, and probably, to live the way a true soldier should have been.

Ciel looked up at the sky as a small ray of light came through the clouds.

‘ _Has orders… been the only purpose of a soldier…? To live is against his order, but I have a different reason to live as a soldier… I want to repay the kindness my friends have shown me… I want… to live as myself…’_

* * *

The radio went silent as the remaining members of Blood were still in their positions in the formation.

Julius was curling his fist while watching his radar, which only showed the presence of the nearby ally jets. Although, the signals for both Hiro’s and Ciel’s jets weren’t included in it.

The radio’s beeping sound broke the silence in the captain’s jet before the familiar voice of the operator was heard, _“I have confirmed the locations of Blood Two and Blood Left Alpha. They are located on the surface of the ocean at eight o’clock from your position.”_

The captain sighed in relief and his lips curled into a smile, “Thank you for the report, Private. Please send a rescue team to their location and the rest of us will proceed with our mission.”

“ _There are no responses from the meeting site since the last contact this morning,”_ Fran added calmly. _“General Grem, would it be fine if the unit returns to the camp until further notice? A fleet of enemy jets would be patrolling around that area soon.”_

Grem’s groaning was heard on the radio before his response was heard, _“Fine. There are things I need to take care of anyway about this incident.”_

“ _Yes Sir,”_ Fran responded in a stern tone. _“I shall pass the message to the base. Please return safely.”_

The communication ended with a beep, with Julius still having his satisfied smile.

“I knew it… You’re not a disappointment at all, Hiro Kamui…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never expected this chapter to be this long, but I'm pretty confident with the end result anyway. The event is heavily based on the in-game mission to 'guard' the God Arc Soldiers and I can say that it's my most favorite scene in the game.
> 
> I'll try and keep the chapter updated as much as I can, so here's hoping that I won't have more work piled on me for the next few months. It's starting to be sickening and I'd rather write all day rather than to work all day and night without proper appreciation!
> 
> And let me add a big thanks to Komikage_0f_Seragakure for the comments! I really appreciate it that you take the time to leave a comment here! Also, I did try your suggestion here and I'll be using it from now on. Thanks again!


	18. True Meaning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back with another update! It's almost midnight here, but it's not as late as the previous one for an update!
> 
> The aftermath after the insubordination in the previous chapter will be revealed here along with more clues about Blood's history. It's not much, but the plan is going to be revealed really soon!

The drenched duo were flown back to the camp, arriving about the same time as the rest of Blood as they returned from the air force base. The sun was barely visible behind the thick clouds, giving off a grim vibe in the camp as the team walked through the muddy path of the camp. As much as they were glad they could return without losing anyone, the unhappy tone of the general on the radio made them keep their cheers to themselves.

Julius had excused himself as he had other responsibilities shortly after arriving in camp, leaving his team to face the annoyed general. The Blood members lined up nervously, with Hiro and Ciel being the ones standing in the front. Their eyes were avoiding the general as he stood in front of his tent while tapping his boot. The lit cigarette in his mouth got burnt quickly before he put off the cigarette by stepping on it.

“That… was an unnecessary expense to fix the damn jets, Kamui,” The general grabbed Hiroʼs collar and gave him a glare. “The tiny amount of your paycheck is not even close to cover for our monetary losses and yet you have to fly your jet into the damn ocean?!”

Grem hit the brunette on the face, sending him to the ground without an effort to fight back. Ciel, who was standing right next to Hiro with her uniform as drenched as his, winced as he hit the ground with a loud thud. Her hands curled as she stood still while Gil and Romeo helped the brunette back to his feet.

“Just because weʼre currently winning this war, it doesnʼt mean that we donʼt have any monetary losses!” The general let out a loud grunt before he lit another cigarette, “For the next few months, your entire paycheck will be taken for the jet repairs. You will also be doing the weapon maintenance as your disciplinary punishment.”

Just as Grem took a single step away, Romeoʼs voice rang in the quiet area, “If you want to take his share,” he took a step forward, “then cut my pay too, to reduce the weight for him trying to save a comrade!”

“Are you serious?” Grem looked at him in amusement until Gil joined Romeoʼs side as well.

“Sure, moneyʼs important and all that, but what’s money for if you donʼt have anyone on your side?” Gil folded his arms. “Go on, take my pay and see if I care!”

Hiro was left speechless as he was kneeling on the ground. His gaze went over to Nana before she stood up in front of him, “Everyone is right! Ciel… I mean… Corporal Alencon isnʼt just our vice captain! Sheʼs our friend too and friends donʼt abandon each other!”

The general had another look at the unchanging convictions the group had and sighed in annoyance before he turned to Ciel, “Do you want to join in this charade too, Corporal?”

Ciel didnʼt give him a response immediately and looked at her team. For the first time since she joined the military, she could feel emotions making a mess within her that she couldnʼt bring herself to think what was right by the rule. Had Hiro not done what he had done despite his fear of drowning and inability to swim, he went against the generalʼs order and risked his own life to save her.

She had always held on to the belief that every debt had to be paid, but at the same time, it was forbidden to go against a superiorʼs order. One way or the other, she had to choose between orders or her comrades.

“Can I have your answer, Corporal Alencon?” The general was looking more and more impatient from her silence, “When your superior is talking to you, you had better–”

“General Grem,” Ciel gave him a salute. “According to the Third Act of the Military Manual, the aid of another cadet on the field is permitted in the case of emergency. Soldiers have no obligation to give up their rights to compensate for any combat-related material damages, with the only exception being the use of said military weapons or facilities for personal needs.”

“It was a disobedience of superior orders!” The general glared at the vice captain. “Your teamʼs orders were to escort my jet and eliminate any kinds of threat in our way! I donʼt care if either one of you is shot down as long as weʼre finally winning this battle!”

“The governmentʼs orders were to survive the war with as few casualties as possible, General,” Julius approached the group with a piece of paper in his hand, “Doctor Leah was the one to receive that said order and she asked me to inform you of your submission to the Presidential Palace to see our president himself.”

Grem clicked his tongue in annoyance before lighting another cigarette, “Fine. Iʼll keep a close eye on you, Visconti, and Kamui for this incident.”

The tension in the area dropped slightly as Grem left and while Hiro had already got back to his feet, his eyes were fixed on the ground.

“Dry yourselves up you two, and take a rest with the rest of the injured,” Juliusʼ calm voice was heard in their ears before he directed his gaze at Hiro. “Meet me at the watchtower in the fortress tonight, Kamui. I need to have a word with you.”

The brunette gave him a silent nod before looking up at his captain and saluted. “Yes… Sir…”

The blond gave him a nod in return before he turned to the others. “As for you three, Iʼd like you all to help in carrying the supplies for the injured. Theyʼre in the docks, so it’s going to be a walk back and forth through the forest.”

“Yes Sir!”

The group slowly dispersed to do what they were ordered to do. Hiro could see the frowns on Romeoʼs and Nanaʼs faces as they were leaving with Gil and Julius. He then glanced at Ciel, who was walking away to her own tent without a word. If she was upset about how his disobedience couldʼve caused two fallen soldiers and more loss to the war budget, he felt that he deserved some more punishment.

He was left hardly punished thanks to his teammates, especially Ciel and Julius, but it didnʼt feel right to him. Even if he couldnʼt say that he regretted his decision, he wasnʼt too happy that his actions only caused more trouble for others.

* * *

Hiro threw his towel aside and ran a hand on his hair. It was still damp, but the water wasnʼt dripping like it was before. His hands were still cold, especially when he recalled the time he jumped into the cold water despite his fear of the water and inability to swim. The thought of saving her then forced him through his worst fears.

“Private Kamui, have you finished changing?” Cielʼs stern voice was heard from outside Hiroʼs tent. “Iʼd like to have a word with you. Itʼs very important.”

The brunette turned to the tent’s entrance, seeing the shadow of the vice captain standing outside. Sighing, he expected her to be present to give him another earful for the actions he did as he knew that she wasn’t too fond of rule breakers. He did save her life, but he disobeyed the general’s order to go on with the mission and ignore her completely. He was pretty sure that was her reason for coming to his tent had something to do with it.

Hiro brushed his damp hair using his hand a little bit, just enough so that his growing bangs wouldn’t get in the way. He opened the tent and walked out, remembering that he needed to be out soon to start his maintenance duty anyway. When he expected her emotionless look he saw for the past few days as he turned to her, he was surprised to see her with a slight frown instead.

“Is… is something wrong?” the brunette asked hesitantly.

Ciel looked around the area for a moment, seeing soldiers passing by to move camp supplies around, before turning back to face him, “Do you mind if we talk as you work on the weapon maintenance?”

Hiro looked at her with a raised brow. She was doing things that he never expected that she would do, starting from how she addressed him formally rather than using his given name as she usually would when they weren’t in public. Other than that, she wasn’t the type of person to suggest going somewhere quiet for a talk.

“Uh… okay?” the brunette responded with a shrug. “I could use some company while working on those weapons. I’m feeling a little tired anyway and it’s better to work while talking to keep me awake the entire time.”

He gave her a smile while expecting that she would scold him for almost sleeping on the job, but all he got was a silent nod before the vice captain walked away and headed for the storage tent. He wasn’t sure what was running through her mind when she asked him for a talk, seeing as he couldn’t read her face. She wasn’t as emotionless as before, but he could notice a hint of confusion written on her face.

The brunette expected her to say or ask him something, but instead, she walked into the storage tent without another word. He followed her inside, seeing that they were the only ones there with a bunch of weapons strewn all over the ground. While he could imagine the soldiers using them being in a hurry for another job or just to have one of Nana’s homemade meals, he had to admit that it was way too messy.

Rifle magazines were all over the place and the rifles were sliding out of their racks. Broken and intact spears were grouped together, making it harder to tell which ones were still usable. None of the maces were put correctly in their racks and a few of them were even put above the racks. Swords were lying around dangerously without their sheaths and with most of them being identical, it would be hard to find which sheath belonged to which sword.

Hiro sighed at the mess, seeing as though he was taught and lectured to take care of the weapons he used, apparently other soldiers weren’t doing as they were told.

“I think I can see why this counts as a punishment,” the brunette commented before he tried picking up the unsheathed swords, putting them out of the way. “Someone’s gonna get hurt just trying to grab whatever weapon they need in here.”

Hiro glanced back at the vice captain, who stood silently by the tent’s entrance. While he wanted to strike up a conversation with her, he still had a job to do and he was most likely forced to finish it before dinner. It wasn’t an easy and quick job, so he had to hold back on the conversation just so that he could have enough time to clean everything up.

The brunette tried ignoring her and continued by sorting the spears, before the vice captain joined him to check the spears’ condition. Her action made him pause and stare at her for a moment, wondering why she helped him when the general specifically assigned only him on cleaning duty.

“Why–”

“Why did you disobey General Grem’s orders? You could have died trying to save someone who would end up dying in the end,” Ciel suddenly asked with her eyes still glued on the spears she was checking.

Hiro was silenced, not expecting the sudden question she was giving him. His silence prompted Ciel to stop looking at the spears and turned to him with a stern look.

“You were _not_ supposed to disobey orders, especially in dire situations,” the vice captain emphasized sternly. “Insubordination in situations such as that could result in unnecessary casualty, which is something we would like to avoid.”

Unnecessary casualty? Did she mean that her death was actually necessary but his wasn’t?

“Do his orders mean everything?” Hiro asked in a pained tone. “Do you really have to die when you are ordered to? Is that what the army wants?”

Ciel didn’t respond and shifted her attention back to the polearm weapons. He looked at her and for a quick moment, he could tell that she couldn’t give him an answer. He knew that as obedient as she was, she still wanted to live even if she was ordered to go and die. It was a human’s instinct to survive.

Hiro let out a sigh, knowing that his question wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear. Even so, he felt that it was already clear to her why he wanted to help her even if it meant going against the general’s order. He was the one to take action, but he was sure that the other Blood members were thinking of the same thing. It wasn’t hard to tell when the tones of their voices gave him everything he needed to know.

“Why did I disobey General Grem’s orders?” he repeated her question and looked up with his eyes closed for a moment before looking at her in the eyes. “You’re my friend and I don’t want to lose any of my friends. I don’t want to lose anyone else when I have the chance to save them.”

Hiro saw that Ciel stopped cleaning the spear she was holding for a moment. Her face was hidden away from his view as she hung her head low, but her reaction more or less told him that she was surprised to hear his reason. He wasn’t sure why she had to be surprised when a friend was trying to give a helping hand, even in a dangerous situation.

Or did that kind of reason unexpectedly upset her?

“Ciel–”

“That was…” the vice captain interrupted, slightly showing her surprised face as she looked up. “That was the first time someone did something for me… Someone other than my parents…”

Hiro looked at her in disbelief. He was already used to living with other orphans like him who helped each other. It was hard for him to believe there would be someone who survived without others helping them.

Was that the kind of life she had been through all this time?

“Also… you are the first person to consider me… a friend…” Ciel’s voice softened into a whisper. “Even after all the harsh treatment I put you through…”

The brunette wasn’t expecting her to remember all the conversation topics he brought up before the battle started for them. He did vaguely recall telling her that she was a good friend and a good person when they had the time to talk on the last day in the base, but her awkward stare then made him switch to another topic immediately. It was a really quick and short proposal from him that he almost forgot all about it, but apparently it had quite an impact on her end.

“For that kind thought you had,” Ciel looked at him with a smile, which caught the brunette off guard, “I want to thank you.”

Hiro was staring at her, feeling unsure on how he should be responding. He didn’t call someone a friend for a word of thanks, so hearing it from her felt a little odd to him. He was happy to hear it and he especially got to see her smile again at him, shrugging off the possibility that he most likely had a dumb smile on his face.

The brunette laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, “Y-Yeah, well… I-It’s not something worth thanking for…”

“It is for me,” the vice captain continued before shifting her focus on the spear she was holding as her smile faded. “I… never had a friend before. After my parents’ passing, I was taken in by Doctor Leah’s late sister, Doctor Rachel, and I was put in various military training. I wasn’t allowed to feel my emotions freely as I was taught that emotions had no place in the battlefield.”

Hiro only gave her a silent nod as he continued working as well. He recalled that Romeo told him the same thing when he asked the blond to reveal more of Ciel’s past which he knew about. Her militaristic childhood made him want for her to experience more about life, which initially branded him as the least serious of the team. He only wanted her to enjoy what life had to offer, but he was most likely doing it at the wrong times.

“Orders are everything. Soldiers live to follow orders. Failure is never an option. Those were the main values of the lectures and training I had been given for most of my life,” Ciel continued with a frown on her face. “Your presence in Blood made me rethink the true meaning of my own life and the lectures I had been living through for years. Perhaps, in a way, your actions broke those values I had been living with in my life.”

Hiro let out a sigh, “Sorry.”

“Please, don’t be,” the vice captain smiled once more. “The life I have since I was assigned to the team is much better compared to the life I had as a child. I am truly grateful for putting that light into my life and let me live to see more of this new kind of life.”

Her words only worsened his own embarrassment, which he was trying to hide as he returned the smile, “Y-Yeah, sure… It’s just that I can’t help but feel that under that cold and strict behavior you have, you have a warm and kind heart. It really shows when you go against the rules yourself to help the injured wild animals you could find.”

“Yes…” Ciel responded in a whisper. “As my way of thanking you for keeping it a secret all this time, I want to help you in any way I can. I will also help you in your duty in this storage tent because it is also my responsibility for putting you in this situation.”

Responsibility? Why was she responsible for his situation?

The vice captain let out a quiet sigh and frowned, “My own incompetence almost led me to my death and you had to disobey an order to keep me alive, even when you yourself know that you cannot swim. I deserve this kind of punishment more than you do.”

Hiro let out a smile and shook his head, “Nah, I don’t think you really deserve it when the situation was like that. I don’t really want to put a heavy burden on you, but I don’t mind having you around if you really insist on doing the cleaning with me.”

“Thank you, Hiro,” Ciel gave him another smile before putting her attention on the sorted spears on his side and suddenly grabbed his hand. “Oh! You’re bleeding!”

“Huh?” The brunette looked at the hand she was holding, which he found comfort with, until he saw a fresh scar on the back of his hand that he didn’t recall having. “Oh, I guess I got it without realizing it when I’m sorting the spears. It’s nothing bad though, just a small scar.”

The vice captain’s eyes turned to the spears he mentioned, which contained the broken and rusted ones, disallowing him from pulling his hand. “You need to clean and wrap it properly before working on those old and rusty spears. If you leave it open like that, it will get infected.”

“O-Okay, but I don’t have my water bottle with–”

“I have mine with me at all times,” Ciel opened up one of her supplies pack, which was strapped around her waist, and pulled out a small water bottle. “This should be enough to clean a small wound and I have some spare bandage as well.”

Hiro didn’t respond and let the vice captain treat his minor wound, staring at her in disbelief. He knew that she was prepared for anything that could happen in battle, but he didn’t expect that she would carry medical supplies outside of battle. Her skills and experiences as a medical soldier were nothing to scoff at from the very beginning, but her preparedness made him even more impressed with her.

The brunette thought to himself that her impressiveness with many things only added the charms he was already smitten with.

* * *

The two cadets were smiling at each other in the tent, with Ciel still holding Hiro’s bandaged hand, before they went back to cleaning up the messy tent.

Romeo had been watching from outside the tent for a while, seeing that things were going quite smoothly between the two of them. He felt lucky that at least Hiro was brave enough to challenge death and saved their vice captain from her watery grave. If the worst possible scenario happened then, he wasn’t sure how he would face his team.

It was definitely his own fault. There was no questioning that.

Romeo knew that Ciel’s jet was behind him from the formation briefing, but he narrowly dodged the shot to save himself and sacrificed a competent ally as a result. If he took the shot then, the vice captain wouldn’t have to go and sacrifice herself and Hiro wouldn’t be in trouble for insubordination. If only he, the least competent of the team, got shot and died back then, his friends would probably be in a much better condition.

But he wanted to live. He still wanted to live and to be with them.

Yet, he couldn’t give them a positive contribution so far. Compared to them, he was bad at fighting.

The blond felt the need to confront them and tell them the truth about what happened then, but he was afraid of what they would say. His teammates were in a bad position because of what he did and he would most likely end up being removed from the team. The worst case scenario for him would be for them to leave him behind for betraying them just because he selfishly wanted to live.

“Hey,” Romeo looked up after hearing a familiar voice directed at him, seeing Gil already standing in front of him. “You okay?”

The blond let out a sigh. He wasn’t in the mood for whatever argument the older cadet had for him, especially after what happened in the team.

“If you keep spacing out like that, you’re going to get hurt and cause problems for the team. Stop overthinking things or you can skip the next assignment–”

“If you want me out of the team, then say it!”

Romeo was glaring at the dark brunette, who was looking a little surprised by his yelling. The blond knew that he wasn’t in the right mind for an assignment soon, but he didn’t need anyone, especially Gil, to point it out to him. He wasn’t going to let anyone decide for him, even if he knew that he was being a dead weight for the team.

“Where the heck did that come from?!” Gil barked at him. “I’m just saying that to keep us out of trouble! One look away from the enemy out there and you’re as good as dead!”

He was trying to remove the troublemaker of the team, wasn’t he? Gil was trying to get rid of him because he didn’t want to be responsible if something happened to him. That guy knew that he was nothing but useless in Blood and he wanted to throw him out like garbage. He just wanted to help the team in some way, but was that a wrong thing to do?

“I don’t care! Nobody cares if I die trying to help you anyway!” Romeo gathered all the strength he could and pushed Gil out of his way before dashing through the camp, ignoring the two people emerging from the tent.

* * *

Hiro and Ciel came out of the tent, hearing the loud voices outside. Romeo had just pushed Gil out of the way forcefully before running off and almost running into Nana as well when she was approaching the group.

“What’s going on?” the brunette questioned the older cadet. “Did something happen again between you and Romeo?”

Gil let out a sigh, “I don’t think he’s thinking straight when I told him to skip the next mission to cool his head off. He thought that I was trying to kick him out from the team.”

“Well, he has been kinda off for the past few days,” Hiro added with a shrug. “Let’s give him some time to himself and he’ll come back to us like nothing happened.”

Nana nodded in agreement, though she looked a little hesitant, “Y-Yeah… he didn’t say anything to me about his problems, so I guess… he’s in the kind of trouble that he doesn’t want anyone to be involved in…”

“Yes. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do at this point unless we know what kind of problem which occupies his mind,” Ciel added before diverting her attention to the noirette present in the group. “Speaking of which, what brings you here? Shouldn’t you be getting ready to cook for dinner?”

A smile quickly returned to the chef’s face as she clasped her hands together, “Yes, but I came here to get you two for a chance to taste my newest soup recipe! A good bowl of soup is perfect to warm your bodies after swimming in the ocean today, right?”

Hiro let out a chuckle, “We didn’t actually _swim_ for fun, but yeah, a bowl of hot soup sounds nice right now.”

“Yes, it is,” the vice captain nodded in agreement before turning to Gil. “Gil, would you like to join us as well?”

The dark brunette looked a little surprised by her unexpected invitation. He turned to the direction where Romeo had run off to for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll join you guys for a bit. The others should be done with the rest of the supply unloading anyway.”

* * *

The sky was getting darker and darker as the day was changing into night.

The four members of Blood sat around a small campfire as Nana was stirring the boiling pot hung above the fire. Hiro and Ciel were having their own share of the experimental soup with the look of enjoyment being present on their faces. Gil was also given the same bowl of soup without him being included for the taste test initially.

“This is pretty good!” Hiro commented before downing the rest of his bowl. “And you mentioned that you put in any leftover food you could grab to make the soup.”

Nana responded with a nod, “Yes! It’s hard to think about what to make after all that labor work and the cooking ingredients hadn’t even been sorted out, so I just put everything in the pot!”

“I would normally be against it, but I have to admit that the flavors of various ingredients blend perfectly with the broth,” Ciel put her empty bowl on the ground with a smile. “Thank you very much for the soup. The warmth is perfect in this rather cold temperature.”

The noirette returned the smile, though with an excited one, “Hey Ciel, did something good happen? Your face looks a lot brighter than before. It’s almost like… it’s shining!”

Nana’s excited comment turned the vice captain’s smile into an embarrassed one, prompting the brunette sitting next to Ciel to laugh as he went for a second bowl of the soup. The relaxing moment between the four of them lasted only for a moment longer as Gil put his empty bowl aside with a loud sigh.

“I think I know why Romeo’s been a little sensitive today,” the dark brunette told the three. “I think that idiot is being hard on himself with what happened to Ciel during that last mission. I saw his jet moving shortly before she got shot down, so I’m guessing he blamed himself for not taking that hit for himself and let yours get hit instead.”

Ciel’s smile faded as she looked at Gil, with her hands resting on her lap as she shook her head, “I don’t blame him at all. I can understand that it was his instincts as a human being wishing to survive which momentarily blinded his own judgment. But in the end, we didn’t suffer any casualties in our team.”

“Yeah, but…” Nana spoke up, frowning. “I know what kind of person Romeo is and I know he’s going to blame himself if something happened to any of us. He’s a kind person, but usually doesn’t think about himself when he’s trying to help. It’s going to be really hard for him once he knows that he’s doing the other way to save himself.”

The smile returned to the vice captain, though a small one, as she looked at her, “Yes, but the incident which could have been a tragedy made me realize something important which I had been ignoring all this time.”

“Oh? And that thing is…?” Gil was starting to get a little curious, but both he and Nana had an idea about what she was going to say.

Ciel took a quick look at Hiro, who was too busy eating his newly-scooped third bowl of the soup to pay attention to the conversation, before turning to the other two, “Someone reminded me of my own desires to keep on living, even as I was ready to give my life up so you all wouldn’t have to disobey an order to keep me alive. That person risked his own life just to save me and I would forever be grateful to him. The very first person to consider me a friend, Hiro, had saved my life and radiated a bright light in my second chance of living.”

Ciel’s latest words made the brunette suddenly choke on his soup, as he didn’t expect to hear her choice of words in her gratitude. His loud coughing worried the vice captain as she tried patting his back, but the gesture only worsened his coughing for a moment before Nana gave him a glass of water. The loud coughing ended with the brunette’s long sigh before his attention shifted to the half empty bowl in his hands.

The vice captain was still looking at him in worry, but gave him a small smile when he shyly glanced at her.

“U-Um… should we leave the two of you for a bit?” Nana suggested with a big grin on her face. “I… well… I need to prepare our dinner and Gil needs to find Romeo, right?”

“Wait, what?” Gil asked in surprise. “Why do I have to be the one to find him? Just leave that guy on his own for a bit! I’ll only make things worse for him anyway.”

“I-It’s fine, guys!” Hiro quickly interrupted. “We need to finish up with the cleaning anyway and Julius wants to see me afterwards.”

The brunette quickly downed the rest of the soup before putting the bowl down. He stood up, followed by Ciel, who looked at him with a smile. He tried shrugging off the awkwardness between them as he left for the storage tent once more with the vice captain following him to help.

* * *

A sigh escaped Romeo’s lips as he leaned against the dead tree behind him.

The blond was sitting on a small hill, looking at the fortress nearby as the sun was no longer visible. He closed his eyes as he felt the wind blowing on his face while his fingers were playing around a torn envelope he was holding.

It was the same envelope addressed to him from Lindow, which was starting to get wrinkled from being carried around so much.

Romeo took out a few pieces of paper from the envelope, which had detailed profiles of the team members he was so familiar with. His eyes scanned through the first profile, belonging to Gil, before his gaze landed on the field with the title ‘Notable Skills’.

The dark brunette was noted to be proficient in engineering with agile hands suitable for handling rifles or maintaining weapons. His skills could be put into practical use, while the blond’s knowledge on weapons were merely knowledge without him knowing how he could put it for practical use.

The blond flipped over to the next profile, belonging to Nana. Her skills were written to be above average human strength and excellent stamina, which was different to his non athletic body.

The next profile was from Hiro, who was initially thought to be as incompetent as he was. The brunette was listed to be a master of aerial and close combat, as well as being a leader of a pack.

The blond turned to the next profile, which was his own. He initially expected to see something good written about him in the list of skills, only to see the field being left blank. He wanted to believe that whoever wrote the profiles simply forgot to put in his skills, until the painful truth was thrown at him.

He had no talents in battle at all. He had nothing useful for combat.

Romeo decided to put back the profiles into the envelope, knowing that the skills of the captain and the vice captain would be out of his league. He was just a private, but his other team members bearing the same rank had more capabilities than him. Experience wasn’t a factor as most of them started from the same starting point, but they had progressed more than he had.

The blond wondered if there was a reason for his presence in the team. Was there a meaning in his membership in the team other than being the useless one?

Romeo let out another sigh as the word ‘useless’ continued to haunt him. He wanted to be able to help out his friends, but he only ended up being helped. He wished that he had his own chance to shine like the rest of his teammates, seeing as knowing how to hack computers didn’t earn him much credit.

After all, he couldn’t consider himself physically fighting against someone.

The blond sighed in frustration, not realizing that he wasn’t hanging out on his own anymore.

“Aren’t you going to gather with the rest of the team, Romeo?”

Romeo looked up in surprise, seeing that the captain of the team was standing above him. He quickly stood up for a salute, only to hit himself with the envelope he was holding as he did so.

Julius only raised a brow in amusement before his gaze was directed at the camp, “The others should be getting ready for dinner soon, so you might want to return before they finished everything.”

The blond only stared at the captain instead of moving. The faint smell of food made him hungry, but he was also curious about Julius’ presence outside the camp. The stare finally caught the captain’s attention and he looked back at the younger blond before his eyes fell on the wrinkled envelope he was holding.

“I’ve heard from the others. Are you having troubles fitting in with the team?” Julius asked calmly. “Gil was mostly worried about your lack of focus in the past few days.”

Romeo didn’t expect the captain himself to actually care about his problems, but he assumed that taking care of a team was a part of a team captain’s duties. When Julius already knew that he was troubled like this, the blond didn’t see any reason to keep things hidden. He wasn’t sure if he should talk about his problems when he didn’t know if the captain had issues on his own after the incident.

“Blood is an elite team, but we’re still humans,” Julius suddenly spoke up. “We may be a group of elite soldiers, but we still have weaknesses of our own as human beings. A prime example would be Hiro’s fear of water and drowning. Gil is also not too good with heights, according to the report from his jet flight instructor.”

The blond looked at him in confusion. Why was he telling him about the other members’ weaknesses?

“Give yourself some time to develop and discover your own skill,” the captain continued. “Even if you feel like you’re not fit for front line combat, I believe there is another reason… another meaning for your presence in the team.”

“Another reason… for my presence…?” Romeo repeated Julius’ statement hesitantly.

The captain gave him a nod, “A team of elite soldiers. What is the true meaning of an elite? Who is considered to be a soldier? I believe those two questions can have different answers depending on how a person views those words.”

Julius turned to him with a stern but comforting gaze.

“I may have a job well-suited for you. It’s an infiltration mission to the campsite where General Grem was planning on going today,” the captain looked away, gazing at the clouds in the sky. “This might be just my own hunch, but I believe there’s something happening in that enemy camp that’s related to our country.”

An infiltration mission. Would he be up for it? Or would he fail like he usually would?

“Would you like to try and join the scouting team heading for that area?” Julius asked once more. “There are a few good combatants in the team, if you’re worried about encountering the enemy soldiers. Perhaps you might find it to be the type of job you’re most suited with.”

Another chance. It was something he probably didn’t deserve, but he wanted to know what kind of skill he could have to contribute to the team. He still had people he wanted to protect, but he had to find another way to keep them safe when he couldn’t fight. If the fight involved getting information ahead of the enemy, he felt a little more confident.

“I’ll give it a shot. I won’t be a disappointment anymore!”

This was his chance to find the true meaning of his presence in the team. To find the meaning of an elite and a soldier which applied to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Romeo's coming to save the day! ... Well, he would be at some point, because I kinda feel sorry for him and the situation he is in.
> 
> More of the plot reveal coming soon!


	19. Strength of an Intel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter up! The plot outlining is finally finished and the updates will continue as usual, whenever I can find the time to write.
> 
> Thanks for the patience and thank you for the extra kudos for this story!

The crescent moon was shining brightly in the night sky, decorated by a sea of stars.

The lone brunette had found himself on top of the fortress, looking around the empty path. He saw a few patrolling soldiers passing by, giving them a quick but quiet greeting. While he was a little curious about the patrols’ sleeping hours, he had an important thing to do.

“Private Kamui, good evening,” The voice of the team’s operator caught Hiro’s attention and he was met with her small smile. “Captain Visconti is already waiting for you up ahead.”

The brunette looked over her shoulder, spotting a tall tower on the side of the path, with a familiar blond standing inside the tower.

“Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything,” Fran gave him a light bow. “I shall be on my way now.”

Hiro responded with a nod and a smile, “Got it. I’ll see you around… uh… Private Bourgogne, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” the operator gave him one last nod before walking away, leaving the brunette to stand on the foot of the tower.

Hiro looked up once more, seeing the wind blowing the captain’s short blond hair. He was facing the camp, most likely watching over the camp as some of the soldiers were still having their dinner. The position made the brunette envy him a little as it must have felt good to look down from a place that high. But at the same time, he assumed that the captain wasn’t there just to hang out and enjoy the view.

The brunette stepped inside and climbed the only set of stairs to reach the top of the tower, where Julius was waiting. The moment he stepped outside, he could feel the cold wind blowing and the two layers of his clothing weren’t enough to keep him warm. He could only wish that the team captain didn’t have to take his time with his business or he might be freezing to death up there.

He rubbed the sides of his arms and stepped closer to the captain, who didn’t look like he had noticed the extra person on the tower.

“You’re here, Kamui… no, Hiro,” the captain spoke up, correcting himself to refer the brunette by his given name, without turning his eyes off the camp. “You can come and join me here if you wish so.”

Hiro stood still and watched the captain for a moment before nodding and walking to join him by the edge of the tower.

The weather was cold, but he got the chance to view the camp from high above. The soldiers looked so small as they gathered around the campfire and the tents looked like they were lanterns. The glowing night sea was visible in the distance, reflecting the moonlight from above. Even the forest between the camp and the docks looked like it was glowing, as the crescent moon was shining on the tree leaves.

“This tower is one of the few places we can view the entire camp from,” Julius spoke up and turned to look at the brunette beside him. “Tell me, Cadet, what is in your mind when you look at the soldiers from here?”

Hiro looked at him with a raised brow before gazing at the view of the camp, seeing nothing too extraordinary to him, “Uh… they’re… small…?”

The brunette wasn’t sure what kind of answer the captain wanted. While he believed his response to be the truth, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that it sounded a bit silly. He could try and think about it more to understand the context of Julius’ question, but it was hard to think when the cold air was slowly freezing his brain.

“Correct, they are small,” the captain responded sternly as his gaze returned to the camp. “Elites or not, we are all humans. We may reach for the sky and aim to be the most powerful person, but compared to the size of the world we live in, we are insignificant.”

Hiro was even more confused. Why did the captain suddenly start talking about comparing people and the world?

“As insignificant as we are as humans, we can still make a change that affects the world itself,” Julius continued. “An important person in my life once promised a world free of war, one which came from the hatred residing in human hearts. He died before he could reunite with his family… with his son… and that promise of his seemed to have disappeared as if it died along with the person himself.”

A person who had promised a peaceful world that was free from wars and fighting. He recalled hearing someone like that many years ago, but he couldn’t remember his name. All he could remember was the blond hair that stood out among the black and brown heads of his troops, the same blond hair the captain had.

Then it hit him. The person Julius meant would be…?

“I want to carry out his promise and protect everyone,” Julius’ words snapped the brunette from his thoughts as he continued and looked at Hiro. “However, some people don’t have the same vision. This is the very reason why Romeo and I have been trying to fight our own battles without the rest of Blood knowing.”

The brunette was surprised, as the captain’s words had made him realize something about his teammate, “Then the reason why Romeo hasn’t been himself all this time… is because he’s been fighting in his own battle?”

“Precisely,” the captain responded with a slight nod. “The reason behind Blood’s founding is still a mystery, but I have a feeling that Romeo has found something and refused to say anything. His findings must have been clouding his thoughts that he failed to realize his own role in Blood. This is why I want you to keep an eye on him.”

Hiro was left in more confusion, “But… I’m just a regular soldier… I’m not the team captain or the general. I don’t know how to be a leader at all.”

“You have a talent to connect with others, which is something I don’t have,” Julius put a hand on the brunette’s shoulder. “Please, make sure Romeo doesn’t stray away from his path.”

Hiro wasn’t sure how to respond to the captain’s request. He wasn’t purposely trying to get to know his teammates’ past as he only wanted to know them better to communicate better in battles. He only put some extra effort to get to know the vice-captain because of his adoration for her, but he felt like he had already grown closer to the others at this point. Was that the kind of talent Julius was referring to?

The brunette wanted to ask him, but the captain was already leaving the tower. He looked back at the camp area and looked around, spotting Romeo on his own as he was leaning against a dead tree on a small hill. While he couldn’t see the blond’s expression clearly from the tower, he could guess that Romeo was troubled by how Julius asked him to talk about Romeo himself.

What made him curious the most would be the envelope Romeo was holding and staring at intently. He wasn’t sure if the envelope’s contents had something to do with the blond’s findings that Julius mentioned, but it would probably be better if he could take a look at it later on.

That was if he had the chance to ‘borrow’ it without Romeo himself knowing.

* * *

It was still early in the cold morning.

The camp was covered in fog, though not as thick as before. The rising sun was still covered by the tall fortress, causing most of the camp to be covered in a blanket of darkness. The soldiers in the camp had started coming out from their tents for their first meal of the day, with a few people excluded.

Romeo let out a sigh as he looked around the tent, where he was left on his own as Gil and Hiro were already assigned to another mission and were gathering with most soldiers for an early breakfast. His backpack was sitting by his feet, already packed with various supplies for his own mission, before he took it with him as he walked out of the tent.

As soon as he stepped outside, he could smell the faint scent of food coming from the campfire. He could hear the sound of his stomach growling from the good smell of the cooking he was already familiar with, but his mind was already set on where he had to go. He would have to skip on his best friend’s homemade meal, even though it wasn’t necessary so that he could get an early start on his own mission.

The blond looked around the empty path, heading straight for the captain’s tent. The female operator was standing outside as if she was already waiting for his arrival.

“Private Leoni,” Fran opened the tent as she stood next to the entrance. “Please, this way. Captain Visconti is waiting.”

Romeo responded with a nod, “Okay…”

The blond entered the tent before the operator followed him inside, heading towards Julius as he stood in front of a strategy board. He took a deep breath as he stood behind the captain silently, feeling the pressure of the special mission he was assigned to. The atmosphere in the tent was tense as the people inside were among the few people who knew more about Blood’s history.

Fran suddenly cleared her throat, getting the captain’s attention as well as breaking the silence in the tent, “Captain, Private Leoni is here. Should we start the mission briefing?”

“I personally don’t mind starting now,” Julius turned to Romeo. “It’s still very early. You should have something to eat before the briefing.”

The blond curled his fists. He wasn’t going to obey his rumbling stomach when he could get an early start for a mission. He wanted to leave as soon as he was given the details about what he was supposed to do and without anyone in the team knowing. Knowing them, they would most likely be worried about him going off on his own when he couldn’t fight properly.

“I’ll be fine,” Romeo spoke up sternly. “I can still eat some ration packs on the way to that camp.”

He could feel that Julius was staring right into his eyes as if the captain was trying to read his mind. Didn’t his response convince the captain enough that he was ready?

“If that’s the case, then the three of us should get moving to the air force base,” Julius picked up his bag from the foot of the strategy board. “The rest of the scouting team will be waiting for us in the base.”

The blond didn’t get the chance to ask anything as the captain walked out of the tent, leaving him with Fran on his side. The operator gave him a small smile and an apologetic bow before she went over to the board and unpin a few notes on it. He wasn’t sure what those notes were as they were taken down and he was confused when the operator handed them over to him.

“Our informants have observed the characteristics of the terrain around the area and that information is summarized in these notes,” Fran told him with a smile. “Captain Visconti told me that I can trust this information to you in order to learn more about the enemy’s communication network.”

Romeo looked at the notes in his hands, seeing detailed descriptions of the enemy camps in the area around the one he wasn’t assigned to for the mission. Each note had information about the number of combatants and facilities in detail, including the specialties of each camp. The dense information wasn’t the type of information he could gather at all times, which hurt his confidence more until he realized the exact area of the camp’s network.

“Aren’t these the camps located around the place where the others are going today?” the blond asked the operator. “Wouldn’t these notes be better off in Vice Captain’s hands?”

The operator’s smile faded as she turned to the strategy board, which held fewer notes on top of a map. “Captain Visconti and I discovered a hidden network line between our camp and somewhere around the cluster of enemy camps last night. There is a high possibility that there is a traitor among our military units and we need your skills in tracing this hidden network from the enemy side to prevent any unnecessary attention within ourselves.”

“A traitor…” Romeo repeated the words, finally understanding what the captain wanted from him.

The blond wasn’t formally educated in terms of technology as it was still rather new in the country as well. All of the knowledge he had came from his late mentor and his skill wasn’t anything greater than Lindow’s. If the captain trusted him that much, then he was probably better than he believed he was, recalling the words Lindow had told him as he went through Blood’s profiles.

“ _You can probably handle things better than I do, from what you have within.”_

Maybe both Lindow and Julius saw something in him that he couldn’t see himself. The possibility didn’t clear away most of his doubts, but he felt a sliver of hope that he could do something that nobody could.

This was probably the fight that only he could do for the team.

Romeo stuffed the notes into his pocket and took a deep breath, “I’m ready to go. Let’s get the mission started!”

The blond took a glimpse of Fran nodding in response before he headed out of the tent. He saw that Julius was still nearby as he was most likely briefing the rest of the team. The rest of Blood was present when he and Fran came out, but the captain was just finished with the briefing.

From the looks in their eyes, his friends didn’t notice his presence outside the tent. It gave him some sort of relief as he wasn’t sure how he could face them when he was being too secretive to them. He didn’t really want them to know about the mission, because he felt like they would ask to join when they knew about it. They were just being considerate to him by trying to help and protect him.

The blond knew about that fact, but it hurt his pride at the same time. He didn’t want to be the one they always had to save and protect all the time. He wanted to fight alongside them as equals, fighting enemies side by side.

Romeo noticed that Fran was watching him stare blankly at the place where the rest of Blood used to be. He didn’t know the operator very well, but like the rest of his closest comrades, he assumed that she was just trying to look out for him as well.

He gave her a comforting smile, at the moment when she wasn’t expecting it, “I’m counting on you too, Private Bourgogne!”

“Ah!” Fran looked a little surprised before responding with a nod. “Y-Yes, I am counting on you as well.”

Romeo looked back at Julius, who gave the two one last nod before he started walking out of the camp. He and Fran soon followed him into the forest, heading for the air force base once more.

His fight was just starting, even if he wasn’t involved in direct combat. He would be fighting on a different battlefield, but it was the kind of field he was better at.

It was his chance in proving his own capabilities as a member of an elite team.

* * *

The rustling sounds of leaves and grass moving around from the blowing wind were echoing in the forest. The area was rather dark even as the morning was slowly changing into noon, leaving only small gaps between the lush trees for sunlight to come through.

Romeo’s panting was drowned in the sounds of grass and bushes he and Julius walked through as the now big bag of supplies on his back was weighing him down. The weight of the bag soon made him regret his decision on packing too much in the air force base as carrying it while walking miles through the forest had burned down the calories contained within the ration pack he had. The ration pack gave him more energy for long travels compared to Nana’s delicious and sometimes simple meals, but he wished that he had something good instead of something energizing that tasted like dirt.

The blond stopped for a moment to catch his breath, ignoring the fact that Julius kept on moving and left him behind. He looked at the captain, who carried fewer supplies in his smaller backpack, as he walked through the forest without a problem. He wondered why they didn’t end up teaming up with the other scouts when they left from the base together, but one side of him thought of the possibility of attracting more attention when moving in a bigger group.

The captain’s walking suddenly came to a complete stop as he reached for the radio in his ear. Romeo quickly ran to his side and caught up to his position, expecting to hear more information about the surrounding area.

“Yes? What is the situation, Private?” Julius’ voice had broken the silence in the middle of the woods.

Romeo quickly straightened his back as he expected the captain to turn his way to check on him. He ignored the heavy load on his back and looked at his superior officer, who still had his hand over his ear.

“I understand. Thank you for informing us,” the captain responded before letting his hand fall to his side and turned to Romeo. “We have a change of plans. There are civilians in a nearby enemy camp who were captured after being assumed to have been spying on one of the enemy’s military facilities. I’m required to head there to help, but we cannot miss our chance to slip into that certain camp…”

Romeo could see the confusion on the captain’s face. He was sure that Julius would be able to handle it without problem on his own, but that would mean that he would also be on his own to head for the enemy camp. He could recall the information about the enemy’s scouting teams and a little about their supply network in the area from the notes earlier, but he wasn’t completely sure that he could find a very safe route for him as he couldn’t even fight when he was carrying too many things on his back.

But on another hand, it could be his only chance to prove himself.

“I’ll… I’ll do it…” the blond didn’t sound too confident, which earned him Julius’ attention. “I’ll… try and figure a good path to move in from the notes Private Bourgogne gave me this morning.”

Romeo expected the captain to respond in the form of rejection because of his inability to fight or something similar, but all he got was silence. Julius was looking at him without any notable expressions for a moment, which was starting to make him worry. Did his proposal sound too illogical?

His worry soon faded when Julius gave him a small smile and nodded, “Very well. That information came from a very reliable informant of mine, so I’m quite certain that it’s very accurate. Use that to your advantage and come back alive.”

Romeo froze in his place, completely unexpecting to hear Julius’ immediate approval. The captain had walked away before he got the chance to say anything else, but to him, his trust was enough. Julius trusted him for his skills to process all sorts of information and he had to prove that the captain’s trust wasn’t misplaced.

The blond took a deep breath and looked in the direction where he and Julius were initially heading to. He was on his own in the middle of the forest with a big bag on his back, but he felt that he could ignore the weight. His determination gave him the strength to push himself into a sprint, breaking through the greenery around him and to the clearing with many tents set up.

Romeo concealed himself into one of the nearby bushes and watched the situation in the enemy camp.

For a military camp, the blond was surprised to see very few soldiers in the camp. He assumed that most of the camp’s residents were gone and fighting on the battlefield, but the number of soldiers left in the camp wouldn’t be enough when the camp itself was a big one. There wasn’t enough manpower to defend the whole camp if they were attacked.

Romeo carefully removed his backpack and dug through it to get the binoculars he brought with him. They allowed him to see the group of people in the camp from his position, but all he could see were people dressed in white lab coats walking around. He could easily guess that they were scientists, but their number was at least three times the number of soldiers he had seen around the camp so far.

Something wasn’t right in there. He was sure that something was definitely going on in that camp.

The blond decided to leave his bag there to give himself more freedom of movement as he snuck through the entrance of the camp. He carefully made his way deeper into the camp without being noticed, until he crashed into what felt like iron bars.

“Ow!” Romeo turned around while wincing in pain, coming in direct contact with the surprised faces of people behind bars. “W-Whoa!”

The blond fell on his back when he saw people while stealthily trying to navigate through the camp but then noticed that they were trapped inside a cage. Their clothes were mostly tattered, most likely from being kept in there for an unknown period of time, and their bodies looked like they were skeletons wrapped by human skin.

“A-Are you here to help us…?” an old man by the cage door asked weakly. “I… I want to go home…”

Romeo walked over to the cage, getting hushed cheers from the caged people, as he looked at the rusty padlock keeping the poor people inside. While he was sure saving trapped people wasn’t in the mission description, he definitely wasn’t going to leave them in that state. Not when he could do something about it.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you guys out of there!” he told them confidently as he tried picking the old padlock.

Relieved sighs could be heard when the padlock opened with a click, giving the people their freedom. Romeo couldn’t imagine what it felt like to be trapped inside a small cage like an animal, but it wasn’t the time to think about it.

He looked around the area cautiously, but his actions didn’t seem to have caught the scientists’ attention. He dug his hands into his pocket for the notes, reviewing the safe routes they could use to get back to the camp. He looked back at the old man from earlier and took his hand, putting one of the notes on it.

“Here,” Romeo smiled at him as he spoke in a whisper. “This is the safest way out to our campsite. I’m sorry I can’t escort you back because my business isn’t done here!”

The old man shed some tears before the blond was wrapped in an unexpected hug, “Thank you… thank you very much, young man…”

“U-Uh…” Romeo wasn’t sure how to react, but the smiles on the others’ faces brought one to his own face as he patted the old man’s back. “Stay safe, Sir. I’ll come back to the camp once I’m done here.”

The old man released him from the hug as the other prisoners gathered around them. Even without words, he could see their gratefulness towards him as they left one by one and headed for the camp’s border with the forest. It was those kinds of smiles that lifted the burden of his incapability and reminded him that he was still doing the right thing even without actually fighting.

When he could help others, even if they were strangers to him, it made him feel better about himself.

Romeo slapped his face hard, forcing himself to get his focus back on his mission. He looked around the area, looking for anything which looked like they were out of place in the tent. The sight of an enemy soldier nearby had surprised him and made him retreat to the back of the nearest tent he could reach. When he poked his head slightly to look, he saw that the soldier was carrying a big metal box to be handed to a different soldier.

“Don’t lose the box, rookie,” the soldier handed over the box to a younger soldier before giving him a hard slap on his back, straightening it up. “This box has to be delivered safely to our general. If you lose it on your way, losing your head will probably be the best thing you can wish for.”

The younger soldier’s face looked pale as he stomped his foot on the ground, “Y-Yes Sir!”

Romeo watched the soldier as he ran out of the camp and out of his sight. While the box and how it was treated felt suspicious, he wasn’t going to chase the soldier outside to prevent getting himself into a fight he couldn’t win. He chose to shift his attention back to the older soldier, who had started walking away in the other direction.

The blond managed to follow him while keeping himself hidden all the time, stopping when the soldier entered a semi-permanent building in the middle of the camp. He snuck closer to the building, which looked like storage until he was forced to hide once more as the soldier came out moments later with a pile of documents in his hands.

The pile of documents which was then given to a familiar-looking old scientist.

“T-T-Thank you for the h-help, Captain,” the scientist stuttered in response and fixed his sliding glasses as he took the documents. “P-Please do a-as good as u-usual…”

Romeo’s eyes watched the scientist as he left to gather with the others, feeling that he had seen the scientist from somewhere. He could’ve sworn that he saw the Susano’o flag on the scientist’s name tag, which made him question why a Susano’o scientist was working in an enemy camp.

He shrugged off the question for a moment, seeing that the building was left unguarded. He made his way into the building, carefully opening the door to prevent anyone in the camp from hearing him enter. While he felt that he hadn’t been caught sneaking around the camp, he wasn’t aware of the pair of eyes behind a pair of glasses watching him as he closed the door.

* * *

Shelves of documents. The smell of paper and ink. Dozens of broken cables and spare parts.

Those were the things Romeo didn’t expect to be inside storage located in the middle of a warzone. The storage he initially expected to be a storage for weapons turned out to be a storage for records and archives. He walked around the shelves, looking over the documents which were starting to smell like mold because of the humid air in the room.

A single document inside a black folder caught his attention that he had to take a look at, finding detailed explanations about experiments he had seen inside Rachel’s journal. There were mentions about animal genes and modifications for human genes, which were similar to the ones mentioned in the journal. Without a mistake, the blond was certain that the document was something that might become useful.

He slipped the document into the inner pocket of his uniform jacket, unveiling a piece of rolled paper on his feet. He wasn’t sure where it came from, but he assumed that it must have fallen off when he took the document. His curiosity got the better of him as he unrolled the paper, revealing a map similar to the one he saw in Julius’ tent. What surprised him the most would be the fresh markings on the map, located around the area his teammates were supposed to be heading.

“That’s… that’s the location of the landslide from before!” Romeo subconsciously shouted.

Romeo quickly reached for the radio in his ear to contact Julius or Fran, but all he got was a deafening static sound. He couldn’t connect to either of them to warn the others before it was too late, but he hadn’t run out of options just yet. If he couldn’t get in touch with them through the radio line, he could still try and run as fast as he could to the camp.

The blond’s eyes quickly shifted to the door as he ran to get outside, only to find out that the door refused to budge.

“Damn it! It’s stuck!” Romeo completely ignored the fact that he was supposed to stay low until he got what he needed and pounded on the metal door. “Hey! Is someone outside?! I’m locked inside!”

A loud clang interrupted his loud banging, getting his attention. He turned to the side to see a small object on the ground on the other side of the room, right below a small window. It was too high for him to try and climb, but it gave him a sliver of hope to escape the humid prison. That hope of his only lasted for a few seconds as the small object started bursting into flames and burned the flammable documents nearby.

“F-Fire!”

Romeo watched helplessly as the temperature of the room spiked while the fire spread quickly. His head went crazy as he looked around for another exit, but all he could see was the locked door in front of him and the windows located at least twice the height of the shelves. He had to get out of there and fast, but he couldn’t think of another way but to use brute force on the locked door.

He wasn’t going to die there in the fire. He still had to prove himself to be useful to the team, but he couldn’t do it when he couldn’t get out of the building. He couldn’t warn the team when he couldn’t even get in touch with anyone on the radio or get out to warn them in person.

Was that everything he could do in the end?

He felt his knees grew weaker as his lungs were filling up with smoke. His head was starting to get dizzy as his consciousness was fading away, but the familiar voice of his captain in his ear snapped him back into reality.

“ _... riv… eoni…!”_

Romeo weakly reached for the radio in his ear as the static from before was slowly fading and Julius’ voice was getting clearer and clearer.

“ _Private Leoni! Can you hear me?!”_ Julius asked from the other side, sounding more desperate than usual. _“Can you give me a status report?! Private Bourgogne and I couldn’t reach you or track your location for the past half hour!”_

He tried to respond but inhaling more smoke only caused him to cough even more.

“ _Romeo! Are you okay?!”_ the captain asked by his given name with a worried tone. _“Please, answer me!”_

Romeo tried clearing his throat while watching the burning flames closing in on him, “I… I’m still okay…! Just… I need to warn… the others…!”

“ _Private Leoni!”_ Fran’s voice was heard on the radio next. _“I’ve managed to connect to the Blood Unit heading for the cliff area. I can pass on the message to Vice-Captain Alencon!”_

“Get them out of there! It’s a trap!” Romeo coughed out the smoke he had been breathing in. “T-They… they’re planning on burying the whole squad alive…!”

Fran’s gasp was heard clearly on the radio before Julius’ stern voice was heard, _“Get Blood and the rest of the soldiers out of the site! Quickly!”_

“ _Y-Yes Sir!”_

Romeo fell to his knees from the lack of clean air, but his mind still refused to accept his fate. He had to come home and see his friends back alive.

The blond suddenly saw one of the nearby shelves crumbling from the flames, letting the iron skeleton of the shelf fall and break upon hitting the floor. He had his attention distracted by one of the iron poles from the broken skeleton, which were rolling to his side. He grabbed the pole and stood in front of the door, determined to get himself out to see his friends coming back safely.

“ _Private Leoni! I’m coming to your aid! Stay safe!”_

Romeo felt a slight hint of relief when he heard that Julius was coming, but another side of him felt that it only made him feel like he had to be rescued all the time. At the very least, he wished that he could get out of the burning building on his own before he arrived.

The blond looked at the door and held the iron pole firmly, before letting out a yell as he charged towards the door.

* * *

The day was slowly turning into night.

The sky was darkening with each passing second, but it was clear of any clouds.

Romeo couldn’t remember how long he had been sitting by the campfire and staring at it, but the silence around him was making him more and more nervous. Julius, Fran, and he came back to a quiet camp as most soldiers were out on the mission with the rest of his teammates. The jammed signal prevented him from getting any news about his teammates and the situation had been mostly the same while Fran was trying to get in touch with the team.

A glass of water suddenly came to his sight, blocking his view of the burning campfire. The blond looked up to see an expressionless Julius offering him some plain water to drink before Romeo hesitantly took it off his hand. The captain joined him by the campfire, looking up at the sky as he sat next to the younger cadet.

“I apologize for not realizing your situation sooner,” the captain spoke up calmly. “Even so, you had done well in retrieving some valuable information from that camp.”

Had he really done that well? All he could save from the burning building was that document that contained information similar to the one he had shared with the captain before.

“I find it quite odd, to be honest,” Julius continued without a change in his tone. “For some reason, something unexpected like this happens every time Blood is involved in a major operation. Did you happen to find out something which might be related to this problem?”

Romeo saw that the captain had turned to look at him. He didn’t get the chance to look over more than the document and the map for the rescue operation from the landslide months previously, but he did see someone who wasn’t supposed to be there.

“I think… I saw someone from our side working on the enemy side…” The blond’s response made the captain raise a brow, prompting him to continue. “I don’t remember his name, but he looked like he was about in his late thirties and he stuttered when he was talking… Oh, and he wore a pair of frameless glasses!”

Julius didn’t look surprised at all as he continued to look at the blond before he finally nodded, “I see. From the descriptions you provided, it seemed like you encountered one of our former researchers named Sohei Kujo.”

“D-Doctor Kujo?!” Romeo stood up in surprise, spilling some of the water in the glass he was holding. “But… but he was one of the researchers involved in Doctor Rachel’s projects! Why did he–”

“The reason remains unclear at this point,” the captain responded with a sigh as he stood up from his seat. “For the time being, we need to be very careful about our missions. Other than Doctor Kujo himself, I suspect that there must be another spy in the army. Your finding of the doctor inside one of the enemy’s facilities confirmed our initial suspicion of a spy being present.”

Romeo didn’t know how he should respond, knowing that he had to be one of the few who would know about a spy when he could track communication lines. If he didn’t know about the existence of a spy, he must have failed in playing his part to be the intel of the team.

“Don’t feel too discouraged, Romeo,” Julius spoke calmly as he looked at him with a small smile. “Your contribution to the intelligence part of the team has been very good and you have saved a lot of lives in the process. The people you freed from that camp sent their gratitude before they left to a much-secured location.”

The captain wasn’t completely wrong, though. He did save them from being held in a cage when he went into the camp. He knew that he made the right decision when he found out that they were actually being used in various experiments performed in that camp. Still, he kinda wished that he could do better to save his friends.

“They’ve finally made it back,” Julius suddenly spoke up once more, getting Romeo’s attention. “Don’t you want to greet your friends and let them praise you for what you did for them?”

“Huh?”

Romeo wasn’t sure what to expect after hearing what the captain had to say until he turned to the forest side of the camp entrance.

Torches were lit to provide some light in the darkening path, but the darkness couldn’t cover the familiar looks of the teammates he had tried saving.

“Hey! Thanks for the quick warning, Romeo! We won’t make it back here without your help!”

He could feel something warm on his face. He was crying, but those were tears of joy. For most of the time he spent on the battlefield, he wasn’t feeling confident enough to be helpful to his teammates. The day when he almost died in a mission was the day he finally found his place in the team.

He was an elite, an expert in finding useful information. He was a soldier, one who would protect his friends and country. He wanted to protect people, especially his friends, and he knew that he could still protect his friends with the information he gathered.

He was no longer a failure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all for this chapter!
> 
> Romeo finally finds a place for himself in the team of elites and his achievement gives him a boost of confidence compared to what he was before. His side of the story isn't over though, because he's just started walking in the path with an unclear ending! As the plot develops more, more of his story will come too along with Julius'.
> 
> One thing to note before I end it here. I've started using a grammar checker, so some terms might be written differently starting from this chapter. Not that it'll change the entire story though, just a few terms and grammar issues I haven't been able to notice up to this point. It helps in a way to maintain the quality of the chapter while cutting down the time I need to look up correct grammar uses because... well... I don't really know any trustworthy people to be my beta reader and I need to know them before giving them the task.
> 
> Anyways, thanks as always for reading!


	20. Projection of Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so back with another chapter! Surely this is a little later than my intended upload time, but at least the new chapter's here, right?

The night sky was clear of clouds.

The soldiers in the camp were gathering around the campfire for their dinner, though most of the soldiers were spending the night outside the camp. The ones left behind spent their time enjoying life whenever they could as being in the middle of the battlefield meant that there was a high possibility that there wouldn’t be a next day for them. They had duties to attend to, but that didn’t mean they weren’t allowed to live like normal people.

Nana’s hotpot menu was greeted with excited cheers as she put the big pot effortlessly over the campfire to let it cook. She had a smile on her face as she looked around the group of soldiers to count the soup portions she was giving out. The smile faded to see that there were two people in her team missing, wondering why they missed their dinner time.

The noirette looked over at the tent area, seeing that one of the bigger tents had a light turned on inside. The tent she saw was the one that belonged to the red-haired scientist.

* * *

Julius let out a sigh before looking up from the contents of the black folder he was holding. His gaze fell on the other person in the tent, who looked a little anxious the moment the captain looked at her.

“Doctor Leah,” the captain started in a stern tone. “Please tell me more about the late Doctor Rachel’s classified joint project with Caligula Nation.”

He saw that the researcher looked a little tense when he mentioned the name of her younger sister. She was avoiding his eyes as she held her hands together firmly before her eyes fell on the black folder. Her gestures told him that she knew something which wasn’t written in the official reports and he kept on watching her movements until the red-haired scientist let out a defeated sigh.

“Romeo mentioned seeing Doctor Kujo a few days ago when he went into that camp, didn’t he?” Leah started with a question as she looked at him calmly. “He was born and raised in Susano’o, but he studied and became a researcher in Caligula Nation before being involved with Rachel and her projects.

“Her latest projects are rather… inhuman… I have to admit, but I refuse to believe that my dear sister was the brain behind all those experiments. She has a brilliant mind with a frail body, but not once I would think of her to be involved in such projects voluntarily. She must have had a very good reason to use innocent civilians as subjects of the experiments, assuming that is truly the case.”

The captain let out a sigh. He had been explaining all of his findings along with Romeo’s, which led them to believe that the red-haired scientist’s sister was the one behind the experiments. He couldn’t remember how long he had been trying to dig some more information from her, but she hadn’t been very cooperative with his questioning.

“What about the Blood Unit?” Julius continued asking, masking his growing fatigue and irritation behind his sharp gaze. “When Doctor Rachel took Vice-Captain Alencon in only a few days after you took me in, I remember that she mentioned finding the other four. Wasn’t she referring to Kamui, McLane, Leoni, and Kozuki?”

Leah’s face looked calm as she let out a sigh, “I’m afraid I have to ask you to leave, Captain. I’d appreciate it if you could end this interrogation and return to your tent for a well-deserved rest.”

“Doctor Leah, please do _not_ change the subject!” the captain responded with a raised tone. “This war has something to do with your sister’s latest joint project, hasn’t it? If we can do something about that part, then there’s no need to continue this battle and lose more−”

“I want you to honor my request, Captain,” the scientist looked at him with a pained look. “Please… I don’t want you or anyone else to dishonor my late sister…”

Julius could see her expression softening at the mention of her late sister, but he also knew that there hadn’t been any official news about Rachel’s apparent death.

“It was mentioned in her medical records that she was terminally ill,” Julius flipped through the documents in his hand. “Her last checkup was dated three years ago before her major surgery, but I couldn’t find anything recorded about the surgery’s result. There was no report of her as a missing person and there was no official record of her death.”

The captain expected a change in Leah’s expression, but the scientist had apparently learned to be calm the longer he was in her tent. She didn’t look as anxious as she was moments ago, but her eyes told him that she was afraid that he was digging too deep into things he shouldn’t have known. Or to be exact, things that he and the rest of Blood were never allowed to find out.

“That is everything I can tell you, Captain,” Leah told him in a stern tone before her expression softened. “Please, this is as much as you can know for now. I’m doing this for the sake of my sister and your team.”

Blood Unit was involved in a way, so it wasn’t completely wrong when she claimed that she was keeping things hidden for their sake. Still, he was certain that the rest of his team had the right to know before letting them choose the path they would follow. Knowing that he was also involved in keeping things hidden from them, he had no right to give them orders to act on his behalf.

There was only one thing that he believed the team would agree with and he wasn’t against that thought at all.

“I understand, Doctor,” Julius gave her a nod. “I also have my own reasons for keeping this information from the team except for Private Leoni.”

Leah responded with a smile, “Of course. I know your father well enough and I can tell that you have chosen the same path as him.”

Not quite. He wasn’t planning on dying before he set everything to the way it should have been. It was the vow he had been carrying for most of his life and it would be his own responsibility. He had to see things through until the end.

“Whichever path he decided to choose, Blood will have its own path,” The captain looked at the scientist right in her eyes. “If the truth of this project comes out, it is very likely that they will betray the army. I can say it with confidence after seeing the kind of people they are and I know they won’t side with people who support hurting innocents.”

Julius gave her a quick salute before heading for the exit without another word. From a quick look on her face as he turned around, Leah’s smile had turned into a frown. He decided to step out from the tent as he wasn’t going to waste more of his time with her uncooperative attitude until he heard her whispering to herself.

“Now’s not the time… The fewer people who know about this, the less likely the truth spreads. If the news about this project goes out, the Caligula Nation will hunt down Blood to erase the evidence of their involvement…”

Evidence. They were evidence of the illegal deals between the two warring countries. Was that the reason why they were almost always put in the most dangerous position in battle?

It was the first time Julius heard about his team being evidence of an illegal experiment. Both sides wanted him and his team to be gone, yet the scientist he knew for years wasn’t the one who would agree with such an arrangement. She had always been the one to try and keep them away from suicide missions, even if it meant going against General Grem’s orders.

He couldn’t understand her reason for protecting them as he didn’t feel that she had some sort of familial attachment to Blood. If Doctor Rachel was truly involved in the project, then would that mean that they were merely memorials of the scientist’s missing sister?

The captain’s thoughts were interrupted by the rustling sound coming from the bushes in front of the tent. He became more aware of his surroundings in case of a stealth attack, but his shoulders soon relaxed when he caught a glimpse of black and yellow dashing away from the scene.

“R-Romeo…?”

* * *

Clanging sounds of dining utensils hitting metal bowls were heard as the present Blood members were helping Nana with the cleanup after dinner. The rest of the soldiers had retreated to their respective tents to turn in early as they were preparing for more big battles.

The disappearance of the team captain didn’t bother Hiro as much, knowing that Julius had mostly been too occupied for a quick dinner with the team. Romeo being missing during meal times when Nana was cooking, however, had been bothering the brunette for a while. Knowing him, Romeo was very unlikely to miss one of Nana’s cooking over something else.

The blond’s mood had improved after Blood returned safely from what could have been their suicide mission, but a look in his eyes told him that Romeo was still being a little distant. Knowing that Romeo had played the role of a hero for them had boosted his confidence slightly, but the brunette was sure that there was more in the blond’s mind. He might have been back to his usual self on the outside, but his mind was still stuck in whatever problem he had.

Hiro looked over to Nana, who covered a bowl of leftover soup with some food wrapping before putting them on top of the red-checkered cloth. When he looked at the cloth itself, he saw that there were various kinds of food being wrapped neatly. A few bottles of fresh juice were present as they were tied to a couple of clean drinking glasses.

The amount of food being set on it made him think that it was Nana’s share for the night as she hadn’t eaten yet until he saw the two glasses included instead of just one for herself.

“Is there something wrong?” Ciel’s face suddenly came into his view, surprising the brunette as she was looking at him worriedly. “You have been spacing out for quite some time.”

Hiro slowly slid away from her, noticing how close their faces were, which caused his head to go blank suddenly, “N-No, I-I’m… good…”

Gil’s chuckling had caught their attention as the dark brunette lifted a stack of dirty bowls and plates for cleaning, “Get some space, will ya? Now’s not a good time for that kind of thing.”

“H-Hey!” the brunette shot him a glare in protest, only for Gil to laugh instead as he took away the dirty dishes.

Hiro’s gaze went back to the vice-captain in front of him, as she had a confused look on her face. He knew that he had always had a crush on her for her beauty, but the longer he spent time with her and the rest of Blood, he felt that the feeling of a simple crush on her had changed. The feeling of simply just wanting to see her had developed into his need to have her by his side.

He had a few crushes in the past, but none of them made him feel like he truly belonged with them. He liked them, but that was everything he felt about them. There was no emotional attachment and he couldn’t even remember their names anymore, but it was different this time. His attention could’ve easily gone to another woman back then, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the vice-captain no matter how many women in the army he had worked with or civilian women he had to save.

There was an unexplainable feeling of comfort he had when he was with her and that sort of feeling was missing when he was with other women. The more he knew about her, the more he was willing to accept her sheltered childhood while hoping that he could do something to improve her life experience. Her monochromatic life deserved to have some colors in it to make it brighter and better.

Even if that something meant that he had to let her go so she could live a happy life with someone else.

Hiro tried pushing away the painful thought of protecting someone else’s bride and focused himself on helping out with the cleaning. He could feel that Ciel was watching him from the side as he was collecting the dishes, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn around and face her. He shifted his focus on the cleanup duty, but another person who was missing came to his mind instead.

“I… I think I’ll go and find Romeo once we’re done here,” Hiro spoke up while trying to maintain a calm demeanor. “If he’s not eating the way he usually does, I think a moment to sit down and talk is a good way for him to open up to us…”

Gil turned to him and responded with a nod, “Yeah, that’s a pretty good idea. Out of us all, the best person to do it is either you or−”

“I’ll do it.”

Hiro shifted his attention to the noirette, just as the rest of his teammates did, as Nana had finished tying the wrapping cloth. She effortlessly put it over her shoulder before giving them her usual bright and cheerful smile.

“He’s going to be so surprised and happy with a big feast I prepared just for him!” Nana excitedly told them before waving her hand. “Don’t wait for me to return, okay? You guys can go back to your tents after you’re done with the dishes here and I’ll take care of the leftovers!”

The brunette didn’t get the chance to respond as the chef had already left them behind. He looked back at the mess she had left them with, which was already halfway finished. They definitely weren’t being paid for cleanup duty, but none of them complained anyway. It wasn’t going to be a boring thing to do when they were doing it together as a team.

Hiro’s eyes unconsciously fell on the vice-captain once more as she was also looking his way. He quickly diverted his gaze to look anywhere but her as nervousness was starting to overwhelm him. He was happy that she was there to help with the cleanup, even if they weren’t actually alone, while at the same time feeling the comfort of her presence nearby.

Still, he knew that it wasn’t a good time to think too much about it. There were more important things to handle than his growing affection for her.

* * *

Confusion. It was the only thing that had been in his mind ever since he returned with the so-called important black folder.

His moment of playing the hero was cut short when he found out more about the illegal project involving him and the rest of Blood. It didn’t contain everything they needed to know, but a single torn page in it was enough to make him question his team’s existence. Or to go as far as questioning if their lives held another meaning than merely disposable subjects.

Most of them were orphans. Even if they never returned from the battlefield, nobody would cry for them. Or at least, he knew that the army wouldn’t care about them enough to inform the orphanage he and Nana grew up in. They were nobody, but the army had more or less brainwashed them into thinking that they were actually fighting to protect innocent civilians from harm and for their country’s freedom.

They were made to think as if they were going to be heroes and he was one of many who believed it. It hurt him more to know that Blood was nothing more than just discardable tools to the army and the fact made him feel like he had lost his way. He had lost his reason to stay with the army, but going back before the war ended only meant betraying the trust of the orphanage caretakers he owed his life to.

“Romeo? Is that you?”

The blond almost jumped in surprise when he saw the shadow of a person in front of him. He cautiously watched the shadow as it got closer and closer, but then relaxed when he recognized the familiar person approaching him with a big bundle over her shoulder.

“Nana?” Romeo looked at her in confusion. “What are you doing here? And what’s with the big bundle you’re carrying?”

Romeo looked around the area, which was a small hill with a dead tree he had been leaning on for at least the past hour. He expected to see the rest of his team nearby after somehow finding him in his favorite spot for some alone time, but he and Nana were the only ones being present. The area was dark because the lights from the tents were too far away to reach the hill, making it impossible for someone to spot him there in the middle of the night.

When the blond shifted his attention to his childhood friend, Nana tilted her head slightly, “Why aren’t you eating with the rest of us? You’ve never missed a single meal before even if you’re busy doing… you know… that weird and complicated tech stuff…”

Her words held some truth in a way as he had never wanted to skip her homemade meals he had been eating for years. Another side of him wanted to chuckle after hearing her effort to describe his attempts to try and hack through the enemy’s communication lines. He knew that it wasn’t something that Nana could understand even if he tried to explain how things worked to her.

She was looking at him as he hadn’t answered her question. He wasn’t going to say anything about what he had found out, so he had to think of a good excuse for skipping dinner.

“I’m… not hungry…” Romeo forced a smile, hoping that the chef would buy his lie and leave him to think.

Unfortunately for him, Nana kept on staring at him for a moment longer before her eyes went down to his stomach. As if she knew about it, the chef let out a giggle when his stomach started rumbling and completely ruined his lie. It was undeniable that he was hungry and his stomach decided to pick the wrong time to let him and Nana know about it.

Romeo expected the chef to step closer and shove some food into his mouth, but she wasn’t doing it this time.

He watched as Nana put the bundle on the uneven ground and untied the knot. The red-checkered cloth spread out on the dry and sandy soil beneath it, unveiling the contents it had been hiding.

Romeo was surprised to see a whole roasted chicken was set in the middle of the cloth as it was surrounded by neatly-wrapped bowls of soup. The chef didn’t say anything as she put a bunch of fresh vegetables on an empty bowl before mixing them with some salad dressing. A few rice balls were lined up neatly on his side, sitting right next to a plate of an omelet with a smiley face drawn on it.

A small stack of oden sandwiches which were Nana’s most favorite food was set on the plate on his left, while a plate of creamy pasta was on the plate on his right. A few small packs of cookies were put between the plates and the roasted chicken in the middle of the cloth. A couple of chocolate cake slices were placed on the chef’s side as she was trying to fix the frosting from being packed in a food wrapper.

Last but not least, Nana poured some juice into two glasses before settling down on the cloth, giving him the view of a picnic with a grand meal in the middle of the night.

“Come on, let’s eat together! I’m starving!” Nana looked at him expectantly. “Don’t make me skip my precious dinner because you don’t want to eat!”

Romeo wasn’t expecting that at all. He knew that Nana was a big eater and that she would never miss anything which involved food and eating. For her to postpone her dinner when he wasn’t eating, was something very unusual.

He didn’t have the heart to say ‘no’ to her when she had gone all the way to cook him a big feast while skipping her own dinnertime. His rumbling stomach was getting louder and louder, leaving him with no choice but to sit on the cloth for a grand dinner he hardly even had. That was, if he had any in the past but couldn’t remember anymore.

“Okay,” Romeo took one of the rice balls in front of him as he smiled at the noirette sitting across him. “Time to eat!”

* * *

“Oh… I’m so stuffed!”

Romeo was having a harder time breathing as he leaned back and released the pressure on the small bulge forming on his stomach. He couldn’t remember the last time he had dinner so good and so much, but he was grateful that his friend had provided him with the food as she always would. Just like how he liked eating her food, Nana was happy to cook for him and her happiness was reflected by the smile on her face as she was gathering the dirty dishes.

Even if the food was at least as good as usual, her unexpected grand meal raised a question in his head.

“Hey, Nana?” the blond asked as he was trying to sit in a better position to get a better view of her questioning look. “Why did you decide to cook all of this for me? And why did you skip on your dinner to eat all of this with me?”

The moment he raised the question, Romeo saw the smile fading away from her face for a quick moment as Nana continued cleaning up the plates.

“You looked kinda down these days, so I decided to cook up a storm for you!” Nana tried sounding as excited as she usually would when it came to cooking, but he could feel a slight hint of sadness on her face and in her voice.

Romeo was happy that she cared that much about him when he was too occupied with his own issues to even compliment her cooking as usual. His gratitude for her care weighed down his intent to tell her the truth, knowing that it would only crush her newfound goal in the army. There was something else that he could tell her that wasn’t completely a lie, even if it wasn’t something that bothered him anymore.

“It’s just… well…” the blond responded with a shrug as he looked anywhere but at her. “I… was feeling kinda jealous of you and Hiro.”

“Jealous of us? But why?”

Romeo looked back at her as she responded with an innocent question, “Well… the three of us joined the army at the same time, but… you guys have been progressing way faster than I have… Hiro is especially really good at fighting with his sword now…”

The blond tried sounding a little hurt as he was elaborating those facts. He did feel that way in the past, but he didn’t have to feel that way anymore when he had already found his own role in the team. He could only hope that his lie wasn’t blown away as easily as his excuse for not eating.

“Really? But if you aren’t here then who would be having arguments with Gil?” Nana had stopped cleaning up and crawled closer to him. “There’s also Hiro who keeps asking you about Ciel’s schedule during our time in the base, right?”

Romeo wasn’t too fond of the arguments part, even if it was also true. The arguments were nowhere near as hostile as their early encounters and both of them actually learned something new from those silly arguments. Hiro was also getting closer and closer with Ciel because of the time they spent together, even if their time together initially felt more like the brunette’s attempt trying to talk to her as she was moving through the base in her working hours.

“And…” Nana was getting a little closer to him, though still at a respectable distance from him, as she started getting fidgety and was looking away from him. “Y-You know, you’ve always been the one to finish everything I made even if it was a little too much…”

That was also true.

Romeo looked back at the grand meal she had cooked for him and there was no trace of food left on the plates and bowls. It was too much for two people to eat, but he couldn’t help himself and finish everything because it was just too good. And as he usually would do after a meal, there was something he hadn’t done after she went all the way to cook just for him.

“By the way…” The blond’s words got Nana’s attention as she turned to him. “That was really good… no, wait! That was the best dinner I’ve ever had in a long while!”

To him, it was just a regular complement for her cooking, which tasted good even if they didn’t always look good all the time. Apparently, it meant more to her.

Romeo was surprised by the sudden weight on top of him as Nana had wrapped him in a tight hug. The gesture made him unable to respond as he couldn’t really think of anything else to say.

“Thank you, thank you!” Nana responded excitedly while subconsciously tightening her hug.

The blond felt like he was almost choked to death as he was aware of Nana’s above-average physical strength until the embrace softened to the point he could breathe normally. He wasn’t used to physical contact even if they had been friends for a long time, but he didn’t plan on pushing her off him when she suddenly put her head on his chest.

“I haven’t answered your question about why I joined the army, right?” Nana asked softly before her hands slightly gripped his shirt. “I joined the army because I wanted to cook for you all the time, but… I guess I ended up having more friends and cooking for all of them too!”

Her answer was pure and innocent, coming from a caring friend who only wanted to look after him. He felt that he didn’t deserve it when he was trying to push her away, even if it was for her sake as well. He had done nothing for her while she had done so much for him, but she hadn’t stopped caring for him. It was only right for him to do something for her in return.

Especially when she had now given him the reason for him to keep on living despite the dark truth he had discovered about himself and Blood.

“Nana, I think I know what we should do after the battle is over,” Romeo whispered to her before he gently pushed her off him, but kept his grip on her shoulders as he smiled at her. “How about we open up a restaurant together so you can cook for everyone?”

Nana stared blankly at him for a moment before a big smile was seen on her face and the blond was greeted with another hug from her, “Yes! That’s a good idea! We’re going to open a big one, bigger than the restaurant my mom worked in!”

Romeo could only smile awkwardly as Nana’s hair was brushing the side of his face. He was happy when she was happy and it was the only thing he could ever ask for. He had to live to protect that smile, in return for her bright and cheerful attitude which had brightened his life and made him the way he was now. That was his reason to continue with the path he had chosen.

The size of the restaurant didn’t matter to him. He was going to help her open her own restaurant to repay her for all those years. She wasn’t going to suffer as his aunt’s abused maid anymore and she could live her dream of being a chef like her mother. That was good enough for him.

Money was also involved in starting her own restaurant and her salary alone wouldn’t be enough. He had planned on sending his own salary to help the orphanage they grew up in, but he hoped they wouldn’t mind if he divided it and kept some for Nana’s restaurant. This was just his way of showing his gratitude to the people who had shaped him to become the person he was today.

“Okay, now as thanks for giving me the bestest idea ever…” Nana had forcefully pushed him with an excited smile on her face. “You can go back and get some nice long rest in the tent! I’ll handle all the cleanup here!”

Romeo couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Nana’s excited attitude. It was times like these that the chef acted like a child and he felt the need to watch over her, but he felt that he could trust her to take care of herself. After all, she was very strong physically and she probably could crush a grown adult without a problem if she wanted to.

The blond gave her a nod and stood up, stretching his body as he had been sitting on the ground for quite a while. He raised a hand for a wave as he was walking down the small hill, “Night, Nana! Make sure you don’t eat any leftovers if there are some left!”

“I won’t! Don’t worry!”

Romeo chuckled after hearing her response before he continued his walk back to his tent, only to be stopped when he saw the team operator along with Julius. The serious looks on their faces told him enough that they weren’t there just for an evening stroll.

The blond raised a hand for a salute, seeing as the situation was a serious one, “Captain. Private Bourgogne.”

“Private Leoni. We need to have a word with you. This is very important.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda saw this scene when I was still working on earlier chapters, though I'm feeling doubtful about actually pairing these two. Not much about these two is hinted in the game, so I decided to just leave it to you guys to think whether they're in a more romantic relationship or just a platonic one out of gratitude for each other. And even if the chapter is mostly about Romeo and Nana, I kinda had to squeeze in a bit more development between Hiro and Ciel.
> 
> Okay, things might develop to have more action scenes next chapter and I don't think I have mentioned anything about the relationship between Romeo and Ciel so far. Or at least, I don't remember if I had done it in the previous chapters. I'll get into that soon and... there's probably a surprise waiting in the near future for the story's plot. You can try and guess, but I won't be answering them until the next few chapters are up to prevent spoilers.
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading as always and stay tuned for the next update!

**Author's Note:**

> The actual pair(s) will come later on and I might also put a bit of Romeo/Nana in this. The characters appearing will mostly be the ones from the Friar side of RB with a possibility that other characters from the first game appearing with minor roles. Also, I most likely won't follow the real life military promotions here. Updates might come a bit slow (and the post here is 2 days late), but I'll try to update as much as my free time allows me to.


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